Reading Shadow Kiss
by Stephy-Monkey
Summary: The characters of Vampire Academy read Shadow Kiss. Make sure you read 'Reading Vampire Academy' and 'Reading Frostbite' before you read this one.
1. Chapter 1

**Here's the first chapter of **_**Shadow Kiss**_**. Who else is excited!? Now, in reviews, people are always asking me if I'm going to do all of the books. Well, here's the answer…Yes. I plan on doing all of the books, plus Bloodlines as well. I will also be doing another 'Reading the Vampire Academy novels' story when I'm finished with these, so please look out for it :)**

**As I have said, I'm injured, so please be a dear and review.**

**I'm sorry that I haven't been updating as of late. I've just been very busy with school.**

* * *

Third person's pov

Mikhail sighed. "Shadow Kiss."

**Rose knows it is forbidden to love another guardian.**

_Or, at least she should_, Tasha thought deviously.

**Her best friend, Lissa–the last Dragomir princess–must always come first. Unfortunately, when it comes to gorgeous Dimitri Belikov, some rules are meant to be broken…**

That got an eyebrow raise from everyone.

**Then a strange darkness begins to grow in Rose's mind, and ghostly shadows warn of a terrible evil drawing near to the Academy's iron gates.**

Rose shuddered.

The immortal undead are closing in, and they want vengeance for the lives Rose has stolen. In a heart-stopping battle to rival her worst nightmares, Rose will have to choose between life, love, and the two people who matter most…but will her choice mean that only one can survive?

"**Chapter One**," Mikhail read.

**His fingertips slid along my back,**

"We don't want to hear about your sex life!" Christian exclaimed.

**applying hardly any pressure, yet sending shock waves over my flesh. Slowly, slowly, his hands moved across my skin, down the sides of my stomach to finally rest in the curves of my hips.**

Christian shuddered. _I don't wanna be hearing this_, he complained mentally.

**Just below my ear, I felt his lips press against my neck, followed by another kiss just below it, then another, then another…**

**His lips moved from my neck toward my cheek and then finally found my mouth. We kissed, wrapping ourselves closer together. My blood burned within me, and I felt more alive in that moment than I ever had. I loved him, loved Christian so much that–**

"What!?" everyone exclaimed.

"You'll see," Rose said, smirking at their facial expressions.

**Christian?**

**Oh no.**

"And again," Rose stated.

**Some coherent part of me immediately realized what was happening–and boy, was it pissed off. The rest of me, however, was still actually living in this encounter, experiencing it as though I was the one being touched and kissed. That part of me couldn't break away. I'd merged too much with Lissa, and for all intents and purposes, this **_**was**_** happening to me.**

_**No**_**, I told myself sternly. **_**It's not real–not for you. Get out of there.**_

**But how could I listen to logic when every nerve of my body was being set on fire?**

Lissa laughed nervously.

_**You aren't her. This isn't your head. Get out.**_

**His lips. There was nothing in the world right now except his lips.**

_**It's not him. Get out.**_

**The kisses were the same, exactly as I remembered with **_**him**_**…**

_**No, it's **_**not**_** Dimitri. Get out!**_

**Dimitri's name was like cold water hitting me in the face. I got out.**

Dimitri raised an eyebrow.

**I sat upright in my bed, suddenly feeling smothered. I tried kicking off the covers but mostly ended up entangling my legs even more. My heart beat hard in my chest, and I tried to take deep breaths to steady myself and return to my own reality.**

**Times sure had changed.**

Lissa nodded in agreement.

A long time ago, Lissa's nightmares used to wake me from sleep. Now her sex life did.

Lissa and Christian both blushed like crazy.

_Stupid shadow-kissed dhampir little girl_, Christian thought.

**To say the two were a little different would be an understatement. I'd actually gotten the hang of blocking out her romantic interludes–at least when I was awake. This time, Lissa and Christian had (unintentionally) outsmarted me. In sleep, my defenses were down, allowing strong emotions to pass through the psychic link that connected me to my best friend. This wouldn't have been a problem if the two of them had been in bed like normal people–and by "being in bed," I mean "asleep."**

Alberta nodded. She didn't like that they had gotten away with it while still at the Academy.

**"God," I muttered, sitting up and swinging my legs over the side of the bed. My voice was muffled in a yawn. Couldn't Lissa and Christian have seriously kept their hands off each other until waking hours?**

Rose smirked at them.

**Worse than being woken up, though, was the way I still felt. Sure, none of that making out had actually happened to me. It hadn't been **_**my**_** skin being touched or **_**my**_** lips being kissed. Yet my body seemed to feel the loss of it nonetheless.**

Rose looked at Dimitri shyly.

**It had been a very long time since I'd been in that kind of situation. I ached and felt warm all over. It was idiotic, but suddenly, desperately, I wanted someone to touch me–**

Adrian smirked at the Russian God sitting before him.

**even just to hold me. But definitely not Christian.**

Rose shuddered at that thought.

"Ew!" Christian exclaimed. "Rose germs!"

Rose glared at him.

**The memory of those lips on mine flashed back through my mind, how they'd felt, and how my sleepy self had been so certain it was Dimitri kissing me.**

Rose blushed for some reason.

**I stood up on shaky legs, feeling restless and…well, sad. Sad and empty. Needing to walk off my weird mood, I put on a robe and slippers and left my room for the bathroom down the hall. I splashed cool water on my face and stared in the mirror. The reflection looking back at me had tangled hair and bloodshot eyes. I looked sleep-deprived, but I didn't want to go back to bed. I didn't want to risk falling asleep quite yet. I needed something to wake me up and shake away what I'd seen.**

"Couldn't handle it, Rosie?" Christian teased.

"Actually," Rose shot back. "I could, but I didn't want to see your smallness."

"Burned!" Eddie exclaimed, giving Rose a high-five.

"No, but she will be in a minute," Christian threatened, making a ball of fire in his hand.

"Christian!" Lissa scolded.

He sighed. "Fine."

_He's so whipped_, Rose thought.

**I left the bathroom and turned toward the stairwell, my feet light on the steps as I went downstairs. The first floor of my dorm was still and quiet. It was almost noon–the middle of the night for vampires, since they ran on a nocturnal schedule. Lurking near the edge of a doorway, I scanned the lobby. It was empty, save for the yawning Moroi man sitting at the front desk. He leafed halfheartedly through a magazine, held to consciousness only by the finest of threads. He came to the magazine's end and yawned again. Turning in his revolving chair, he tossed the magazine on a table behind him and reached for what must have been something else to read.**

"He shouldn't have been distracted," Alberta muttered.

**While his back was turned, I darted past him toward the set of double doors that opened outside. Praying the doors wouldn't squeak, I carefully opened one a crack, just enough to slip through. Once outside, I eased the door shut as gently as possible. No noise. At most, the guy would feel a draft. Feeling like a ninja, I stepped out into the light of day.**

"You're no ninja," Christian mumbled.

"What was that, Sparky?" Rose asked.

Christian said nothing.

**Cold wind blasted me in the face,**

Sydney shuddered.

**but it was exactly what I needed. Leafless tree branches swayed in that wind, clawing at the sides of the stone dorm like fingernails. The sun peeped at me from between lead-colored clouds, further reminding me that I should be in bed and asleep. Squinting at the light, I tugged my robe tighter and walked around the side of the building, toward a spot between it and the gym that wasn't quite so exposed to the elements. The slush on the sidewalk soaked into the cloth of my slippers, but I didn't care.**

**Yeah, it was a typically miserable winter day in Montana, but that was the point. The crisp air did a lot to wake me up and chase off the remnants of the virtual love scene. Plus, it kept me firmly in my own head. Focusing on the cold in my body was better than remembering what it had felt like to have Christian's hands on me.**

"Way better," Rose said, smirking.

**Standing there, staring off at a cluster of trees without really seeing them, I was surprised to feel a spark of anger at Lissa and Christian. It must be nice, I thought bitterly, to do whatever the hell you wanted. Lissa had often commented that she wished she could feel my mind and experiences the way I could feel hers. The truth was, she had no idea how lucky she was. She had no idea what it was like to have someone else's thoughts intruding on yours, someone else's experiences muddling yours. She didn't know what it was like to live with someone else's perfect love life when your own was nonexistent. She didn't understand what it was like to be filled with a love so strong that it made your chest ache–a love you could only feel and not express. Keeping love buried was a lot like keeping anger pent up, I'd learned. It just ate you up inside until you wanted to scream or kick something.**

**No, Lissa didn't understand any of that.**

Lissa was looking down the entire tirade. She knew she was being selfish back then, but things were going to change now.

**She didn't have to. She could carry on with her own romantic affairs, with no regard for what she was doing to me.**

**I noticed then that I was breathing heavily again, this time with rage. The icky feeling I'd felt over Lissa and Christian's late-night hookup was gone. It had been replaced by anger and jealousy,**

"The darkness," Rose and Lissa said in union.

**feelings born of what I couldn't have and what came so easily to her. I tried my best to swallow those emotions back; I didn't want to feel that way toward my best friend.**

**"Are you sleepwalking?" a voice asked behind me.**

"Busted!" Christian, Adrian, and Eddie all said in unison.

**I spun around, startled. Dimitri stood there watching me, looking both amused and curious. It would figure that while I was raging over the problems in my unfair love life, the source of those problems would be the one to find me.**

Dimitri smirked.

**I hadn't heard him approach at all. So much for my ninja skills.**

"There was never any to begin with," Christian teased.

**And honestly, would it have killed me to pick up a brush before I went outside? Hastily, I ran a hand through my long hair, knowing it was a little too late. It probably looked like an animal had died on top of my head.**

"More than that," Dimitri teased.

"You've been hanging around the boys too much," Rose complained.

**"I was testing dorm security," I said. "It sucks."**

**A hint of a smile played over his lips. The cold was really starting to seep into me now, and I couldn't help but notice how warm his long leather coat looked. I wouldn't have minded wrapping up in it.**

**As though reading my mind, he said, "You must be freezing. Do you want my coat?"**

**I shook my head, deciding not to mention that I couldn't feel my feet.**

"Yeah," Dimitri said. "I would have given you my coat for sure if you had told me that."

**"I'm fine. What are you doing out here? Are you testing security too?"**

**"I **_**am**_** security.**

"Owned!" Eddie exclaimed.

**This is my watch." Shifts of school guardians always patrolled the grounds while everyone else slept. Strigoi, the undead vampires who stalked living Moroi vampires like Lissa, didn't come out in sunlight, but students breaking rules–**

Everyone looked at Rose.

**say, like, sneaking out of their dorms–**

Rose smiled. "Always worked, too."

**were a problem night and day.**

**"Well, good work," I said. "I'm glad I was able to help test your awesome skills.**

"True Rose-style," Sonya said, smiling and shaking her head.

**I should be going now."**

**"Rose–" Dimitri's hand caught my arm, and despite all the wind and chill and slush, a flash of heat shot through me.**

_True love_, Lissa thought of the two. She liked the fact that Rose had found someone.

**He released me with a start, as though he too had been burned. "What are you really doing out here?"**

"Discovered!" Christian exclaimed.

"Disowned!" Rose shot back.

**He was using the **_**stop fooling around**_** voice, so I gave him as truthful an answer as I could. "I had a bad dream. I wanted some air."**

**"And so you just rushed out. Breaking the rules didn't even cross your mind–and neither did putting on a coat."**

**"Yeah," I said. "That pretty much sums it up."**

**"Rose, Rose." This time it was his exasperated voice. "You never change. Always jumping in without thinking."**

_Not true_, Rose thought sadly.

**"That's not true," I protested. "I've changed a lot."**

Everyone nodded.

**The amusement on his face suddenly faded, his expression growing troubled. He studied me for several moments. Sometimes I felt as though those eyes could see right into my soul. "You're right. You have changed."**

**He didn't seem very happy about the admission. He was probably thinking about what had happened almost three weeks ago, when some friends and I had gotten ourselves captured by Strigoi. It was only through sheer luck that we'd managed to escape–and not all of us had gotten out.**

Rose looked down, sad.

**Mason, a good friend and a guy who'd been crazy about me, had been killed, and part of me would never forgive myself for it, even though I'd killed his murderers.**

**It had given me a darker outlook on life. Well, it had given **_**everyone**_** here at St. Vladimir's Academy a darker outlook, but me especially. Others had begun to notice the difference in me. I didn't like to see Dimitri concerned, though, so I played off his observation with a joke.**

**"Well, don't worry. My birthday's coming up. As soon as I'm eighteen, I'll be an adult, right?**

"No," Janine said.

**I'm sure I'll wake up that morning and be all mature and stuff."**

**As I'd hoped, his frown softened into a small smile. "Yes, I'm sure. What is it, about a month?"**

**"Thirty-one days," I announced primly.**

**"Not that you're counting."**

Everyone laughed at the teasing manner.

**I shrugged, and he laughed.**

**"I suppose you've made a birthday list too. Ten pages? Single-spaced? Ranked by order of priority?"**

Everyone leaned in, waiting for Rose's answer.

**The smile was still on his face. It was one of the relaxed, genuinely amused ones that were so rare to him.**

_Not rare much anymore_, Dimitri thought to himself.

**I started to make another joke, but the image of Lissa and Christian flared into my mind again. That sad and empty feeling in my stomach returned. Anything I might have wanted–new clothes, an iPod, whatever–suddenly seemed trivial. What did material things like that mean compared to the one thing I wanted most of all? God, I really had changed.**

**"No," I said in a small voice. "No list."**

"What?!" Everyone has shocked beyond belief.

**He tilted his head to better look at me, making some of his shoulder-length hair blow into his face. His hair was brown, like mine, but not nearly as dark. Mine looked black at times. He brushed the unruly strands aside, only to have them immediately blow back into his face. "I can't believe you don't want anything. It's going to be a boring birthday."**

_**Freedom**_**, I thought. That was the only gift I longed for. Freedom to make my own choices. Freedom to love who I wanted.**

**"It doesn't matter," I said instead.**

**"What do you–" He stopped. He understood.**

"Understood what?" Janine asked suspiciously.

**He always did. It was part of why we connected like we did, in spite of the seven-year gap in our ages. We'd fallen for each other last fall when he'd been my combat instructor.**

_Illegal_, Janine thought bitterly, but she was happy that her daughter found someone who made her happy as much as Abe made Janine happy.

**As things heated up between us, we'd found we had more things to worry about than just age.**

_You can say that again_, Abe thought bitterly.

**We were both going to be protecting Lissa when she graduated, and we couldn't let our feelings for each other distract us when she was our priority.**

**Of course, that was easier said than done because I didn't think our feelings for each other were ever really going to go away. We'd both had moments of weakness, moments that led to stolen kisses or saying things we really shouldn't have. After I'd escaped the Strigoi, Dimitri had told me he loved me and had pretty much admitted he could never be with anyone else because of that.**

Abe mentally glared at Dimitri. The animosity was growing. You could smell the tension.

**Yet, it had also become clear that we still couldn't be together either, and we had both slipped back into our old roles of keeping away from each other and pretending that our relationship was strictly professional.**

_It shouldn't be anything else!_ Abe yelled in his head.

**In a not-so-obvious attempt to change the subject, he said, "You can deny it all you want, but I know you're freezing. Let's go inside. I'll take you in through the back."**

"Sexual innuendo!" Adrian exclaimed.

**I couldn't help feeling a little surprised. Dimitri was rarely one to avoid uncomfortable subjects. In fact, he was notorious for pushing me into conversations about topics I didn't want to deal with.**

Dimitri raised an eyebrow at that.

**But talking about our dysfunctional, star-crossed relationship? That was a place he apparently didn't want to go today. Yeah. Things were definitely changing.**

"For the better," he reassured Rose.

**"I think you're the one who's cold," I teased, as we walked around the side of the dorm where novice guardians lived. "Shouldn't you be all tough and stuff, since you're from Siberia?"**

**"I don't think Siberia's exactly what you imagine."**

**"I imagine it as an arctic wasteland," I said truthfully.**

"Nope," Viktoria, Olena, and Dimitri all said in unison.

**"Then it's definitely not what you imagine."**

**"Do you miss it?" I asked, glancing back to where he walked behind me. It was something I'd never considered before. In my mind, **_**everyone**_** would want to live in the U.S. Or, well, they at least wouldn't want to live in Siberia.**

**"All the time," he said, his voice a little wistful. "Sometimes I wish–"**

**"Belikov!"**

"Busted!" Christian, Eddie, and Adrian said in unison.

**A voice was carried on the wind from behind us. Dimitri muttered something, and then shoved me further around the corner I'd just rounded. "Stay out of sight."**

**I ducked down behind a bank of holly trees that flanked the building. They didn't have any berries, but the thick clusters of sharp, pointed leaves scratched where my skin was exposed. Considering the freezing temperature and possible discovery of my late-night walk, a few scratches were the least of my problems right now.**

**"You're not on watch," I heard Dimitri say several moments later.**

**"No, but I needed to talk to you." I recognized the voice. It belonged to Alberta, captain of the Academy's guardians.**

"How did I not figure that you were there?" Alberta asked herself.

"Because I'm sneaky like that," Rose suggested smugly.

**"It'll just take a minute. We need to shuffle some of the watches while you're at the trial."**

**"I figured," he said. There was a funny, almost uncomfortable note in his voice. "It's going to put a strain on everyone else–bad timing."**

**"Yes, well, the queen runs on her own schedule." Alberta sounded frustrated, and I tried to figure out what was going on. "Celeste will take your watches, and she and Emil will divide up your training times."**

**Training times? Dimitri wouldn't be conducting any trainings next week because– Ah. That was it, I realized. The field experience. Tomorrow kicked off six weeks of hands-on practice for us novices. We'd have no classes and would get to protect Moroi night and day while the adults tested us. The "training times" must be when Dimitri would be out participating in that.**

"Wrong," Rose muttered.

**But what was this trial she'd mentioned? Did they mean like the final trials we had to undergo at the end of the school year?**

**"They say they don't mind the extra work," continued Alberta, "but I was wondering if you could even things out and take some of their shifts before you leave?"**

**"Absolutely," he said, words still short and stiff.**

**"Thanks. I think that'll help." She sighed. "I wish I knew how long this trial was going to be. I don't want to be away that long. You'd think it'd be a done deal with Dashkov, but now I hear the queen's getting cold feet about imprisoning a major royal."**

**I stiffened. The chill running through me now had nothing to do with the winter day. **_**Dashkov**_**?**

"That's what they said," Christian teased.

**"I'm sure they'll do the right thing," said Dimitri. I realized at that moment why he wasn't saying much. This wasn't something I was supposed to hear.**

Alberta shook her head.

**"I hope so. And I hope it'll only take a few days, like they claim. Look, it's miserable out here. Would you mind coming into the office for a second to look at the schedule?"**

**"Sure," he said. "Let me check on something first."**

**"All right. See you soon."**

**Silence fell, and I had to assume Alberta was walking away. Sure enough, Dimitri rounded the corner and stood in front of the holly. I shot up from my hiding spot. The look on his face told me he already knew what was coming.**

**"Rose–"**

**"Dashkov?" I exclaimed, trying to keep my voice low so Alberta wouldn't hear. "As in Victor Dashkov?"**

**He didn't bother denying it.**

_He can't stand lying to me_, Rose thought smugly.

**"Yes. Victor Dashkov."**

"Is there another Victor Dashkov?" Christian teased.

**"And you guys were talking about…Do you mean…" I was so startled, so dumbstruck, that I could barely get my thoughts together. This was unbelievable. "I thought he was locked up! Are you saying he hasn't been on trial yet?"**

**Yes. This was definitely unbelievable. Victor Dashkov. The guy who'd stalked Lissa and tortured her mind and body in order to control her powers. Every Moroi could use magic in one of the four elements: earth, air, water, or fire. Lissa, however, worked an almost unheard of fifth element called spirit. She could heal anything–including the dead. It was the reason I was now psychically linked to her–"shadow-kissed," some called it. She'd brought me back from the car accident that had killed her parents and brother, binding us together in a way that allowed me to feel her thoughts and experiences.**

**Victor had learned long before any of us that she could heal, and he'd wanted to lock her away and use her as his own personal Fountain of Youth. He also hadn't hesitated to kill anyone who got in his way–or, in the case of Dimitri and me, use more creative ways to stop his opponents. I'd made a lot of enemies in seventeen years, but I was pretty sure there was no one I hated as much as Victor Dashkov–at least among the living.**

Lissa raised an eyebrow at that.

**Dimitri had a look on his face I knew well. It was the one he got when he thought I might punch someone. "He's been locked up–but no, no trial yet. Legal proceedings sometimes take a long time."**

**"But there's going to be a trial now? And you're going?" I spoke through clenched teeth, trying to be calm. I suspected I still had the **_**I'm going to punch someone**_** look on my face.**

**"Next week. They need me and some of the other guardians to testify about what happened to you and Lissa that night." His expression changed at the mention of what had occurred four months ago, and again, I recognized the look. It was the fierce, protective one he got when those he cared about were in danger.**

"I have a face like that?" Dimitri asked.

They all nodded.

**"Call me crazy for asking this, but, um, are Lissa and I going with you?" I had already guessed the answer, and I didn't like it.**

**"No."**

**"No?"**

**"No."**

"No!" Adrian yelled.

**I put my hands on my hips. "Look, doesn't it seem reasonable that if you're going to talk about what happened to us, then you should have **_**us**_** there?"**

**Dimitri, fully in strict-instructor mode now, shook his head. "The queen and some of the other guardians thought it'd be best if you didn't go. There's enough evidence between the rest of us, and besides, criminal or not, he is–or was–one of the most powerful royals in the world. Those who know about this trial want to keep it quiet."**

"Too late," Rose muttered.

Lissa grimaced. She purely hated Victor.

**"So, what, you thought if you brought us, we'd tell everyone?" I exclaimed. "Come on, Comrade. You really think we'd do that? The only thing we want is to see Victor locked up. Forever. Maybe longer. And if there's a chance he might walk free, you have to let us go."**

**After Victor had been caught, he'd been taken to prison, and I'd thought that was where the story had ended. I'd figured they'd locked him up to rot. It had never occurred to me–though it should have–that he'd need a trial first. At the time, his crimes had seemed so obvious. But, although the Moroi government was secret and separate from the human one, it operated in a lot of the same ways. Due process and all that.**

Rose scoffed.

**"It's not my decision to make," Dimitri said.**

**"But you have influence. You could speak up for us, especially if…" Some of my anger dimmed just a little, replaced by a sudden and startling fear. I almost couldn't say the next words. "Especially if there really is a chance he might get off. Is there? Is there really a chance the queen could let him go?"**

"Unfortunately," Dimitri said.

**"I don't know. There's no telling what she or some of the other high-up royals will do sometimes." He suddenly looked tired. He reached into his pocket and tossed over a set of keys. "Look, I know you're upset, but we can't talk about it now. I have to go meet Alberta, and you need to get inside. The square key will let you in the far side door. You know the one."**

**I did. "Yeah. Thanks."**

**I was sulking and hated to be that way–especially since he was saving me from getting in trouble–but I couldn't help it. Victor Dashkov was a criminal–a villain, even. He was power-hungry and greedy and didn't care who he stepped on to get his way. If he were loose again…well, there was no telling what might happen to Lissa or any other Moroi. It enraged me**

"Me too," Lissa interrupted.

**to think that I could do something to help put him away but that no one would let me do it.**

**I'd taken a few steps forward when Dimitri called out from behind me. "Rose?" I glanced back. "I'm sorry," he said. He paused, and his expression of regret turned wary. "And you'd better bring the keys back tomorrow."**

**I turned away and kept going. It was probably unfair, but some childish part of me believed Dimitri could do anything. If he'd really wanted to get Lissa and me to the trial, I was certain he could have.**

Dimitri shook his head.

**When I was almost to the side door, I caught movement in my peripheral vision.**

"Busted!" Eddie exclaimed.

**My mood plummeted. Great. Dimitri had given me keys to sneak back in, and now someone else had busted me. That was typical of my luck. Half-expecting a teacher to demand to know what I was doing, I turned and prepared an excuse.**

**But it wasn't a teacher.**

"Huh?" they all asked.

"Just keep reading," Rose gulped.

"No," I said softly. This had to be a trick. "No."

For half an instant, I wondered if I'd ever really woken up. Maybe I was actually still in bed, asleep and dreaming.

Because surely, _surely_ that was the only explanation for what I was now seeing in front of me on the Academy's lawn, lurking in the shadow of an ancient, gnarled oak.

It was Mason.

"What!" Lissa exclaimed.

"That's the end of the chapter," Mikhail said. "Who'd reading next?"

"I will," Lissa said, taking the book. "**Chapter Two**."


	2. Offical VA Cast - Choosen for movie

Rose, Lissa, and Dimitri have officially been casted for the VA movies!

Lucy Fry plays Lissa.

Zoey Duetch plays Rose.

Danila Kozlovsky plays Dimitri.

I would have thought that they would have Ben Barnes play Dimitri due to the popular demand, but I guess not.

(In my opinion, they should have.)

What do you guys think of this?


	3. Chapter 2

**Sorry that it's been so long everybody. But here you go :)**

* * *

Third Person's pov

"**Chapter Two**."

**Or, well, it looked like Mason.**

**He–or it or whatever–was hard to see. I had to keep squinting and blinking to get him in focus. His form was insubstantial–almost translucent–and kept fading in and out of my field of vision.**

**But yes, from what I could see, he definitely looked like Mason. His features were washed out, making his fair skin look whiter than I recalled. His reddish hair now appeared as a faint, watery orange. I could barely even see his freckles. He was wearing exactly what I'd last seen him in: jeans and a yellow fleece jacket. The edge of a green sweater peeped out from underneath the coat's hem. Those colors, too, were all softened. He looked like a photograph that someone had left out in the sun, causing it to fade. A very, very faint glow seemed to outline his features.**

Rose shuddered, remembering.

**The part that struck me the most–aside from the fact that he was supposed to be dead–was the look on his face. It was sad–so, so sad. Looking into his eyes, I felt my heart break. All the memories of what had taken place just a few weeks ago came rushing back to me. I saw it all again: his body falling, the cruel look on the Strigoi face…A lump formed in my throat. I stood there frozen, stunned and unable to move.**

_I would have been too_, Eddie thought grimly. He missed Eddie so much. That had been his best friend. He wished he had been stronger. Strong enough to fight off the Strigoi's compulsion and say no.

**He studied me too, his expression never changing. Sad. Grim. Serious. He opened his mouth, like he might speak, and then closed it. Several more heavy moments hung between us, and then he lifted his hand and extended it toward me. Something in that motion snapped me out of my daze. No, this could **_**not**_** be happening. I wasn't seeing this. Mason was dead. I'd seen him die. I'd held his body.**

Rose flinched a little.

**His fingers moved slightly, like he was beckoning, and I panicked. Backing up a few steps, I put distance between us and waited to see what would happen. He didn't follow. He simply stood there, hand still in the air. My heart lurched, and I turned and ran. When I'd almost reached the door, I stopped and glanced back, letting my ragged breathing calm down. The clearing he'd stood in was completely empty.**

Everyone shuddered.

**I made it up to my room and slammed the door behind me, hands shaking. I sank onto my bed and replayed what had just happened.**

**What the hell? That had **_**not**_** been real.**

_But it was_, Rose thought.

**No way. Impossible. Mason was dead, and everyone knows the dead don't come back. Well, yeah, I had come back…but that was a different situation.**

**Clearly, I'd imagined this. That was it. It **_**had**_** to be. I was overtired and still reeling from Lissa and Christian, not to mention that Victor Dashkov news. Probably the cold had frozen part of my brain too. Yes, the more I thought about it, the more I decided there had to be a hundred explanations for what had just happened.**

**Yet, no matter how often I told myself that, I couldn't fall back asleep. I lay in my bed, covers pulled to my chin as I tried to banish that haunting image from my mind. I couldn't. All I could see were those sad, sad eyes, those eyes that seemed to say, **_**Rose, why did you let this happen to me?**_

**I squeezed my eyes shut, trying not to think about him.**

_Not possible_, Rose thought.

**Since Mason's funeral, I'd been working so hard to go on and act like I was strong. But the truth was, I was nowhere near being over his death.**

Even now, no one was completely over his death.

**I tortured myself day after day with **_**what if?**_** questions. What if I'd been faster and stronger during the Strigoi fight? What if I hadn't told him where the Strigoi were in the first place? And what if I'd simply been able to return his love? Any of those could have kept him alive, but none of them had happened. And it was all my fault.**

"No, it's not!" Lissa, Dimitri, and Eddie all said in unison.

**"I imagined it," I whispered out loud into the darkness of my room. I had to have imagined it. Mason already haunted my dreams. I didn't need to see him when I was awake too. "It wasn't him."**

**It couldn't have been him, because the only way it could have been was… Well, that was something I didn't want to think about. Because while I believed in vampires and magic and psychic powers, I most certainly did **_**not**_** believe in ghosts.**

**I apparently didn't believe in sleep, either, because I didn't get much of it that night. I tossed and turned, unable to quiet my racing mind. I eventually did drift off, but it seemed like my alarm went off so soon after that I could have hardly slept for more than a few minutes.**

"Feels like that sometimes, doesn't it?" Janine asked her daughter.

**Among humans, the light of day tends to chase off nightmares and fear. I had no such daylight; I awoke to increasing darkness. But just being out with real and living people had nearly the same effect, and as I went to breakfast and my morning practice, I found that what I'd seen last night–or what I **_**thought**_** I'd seen last night–was growing fainter and fainter in my memory.**

**The weirdness of that encounter was also being replaced by something else: excitement. This was it. The big day. The start of our field experience.**

**For the next six weeks, I wouldn't have any classes. I'd get to spend my days hanging out with Lissa, and the most I'd have to do was write a daily field report that was only about a half-page long. Easy.**

"That's what they want you to think," Rose muttered.

All of the guardians laughed.

**And, yeah, of course I'd be on guard duty, but I wasn't concerned. That was second nature to me. She and I had lived among humans for two years, and I'd protected her the whole time. Before that, when I'd been a freshman, I'd seen the kinds of tests the adult guardians planned for novices during this phase. The ordeals were tricky, absolutely. A novice had to be on watch and not slack–**_**and**_** be ready to defend and attack if necessary. None of that worried me, though. Lissa and I had been away from the school our sophomore and junior years, and I'd fallen behind then. Thanks to my extra practices with Dimitri,**

Adrian winked.

**I'd quickly caught up and was now one of the best in my class.**

**"Hey, Rose."**

**Eddie Castile caught up to me as I walked into the gym where our field experience orientation would kick off. For a brief moment, looking at Eddie, my heart sank. Suddenly, it was like I was out in the quad again with Mason, staring at his sorrowful face.**

**Eddie–along with Lissa's boyfriend, Christian, and a Moroi named Mia–had been with our group when we'd been captured by Strigoi. Eddie hadn't died, obviously, but he'd come very close to it.**

Eddie shuddered.

**The Strigoi who'd held us had used him as food, feeding from him throughout our capture in an effort to tease the Moroi and scare the dhampirs. It had worked; I'd been terrified. Poor Eddie had been unconscious for most of the ordeal, thanks to blood loss and the endorphins that came from a vampire's bite. He'd been Mason's best friend and nearly as funny and lighthearted.**

Eddie smirked.

**But since we'd escaped, Eddie had changed, just like I had. He was still quick to smile and laugh, but there was a grimness to him now, a dark and serious look in his eyes that was always on guard for the worst to happen. That was understandable, of course. He pretty much **_**had**_** seen the worst happen. Just like with Mason's death, I held myself responsible for this transformation in Eddie and for what he'd suffered at the hands of the Strigoi. That may not have been fair to me, but I couldn't help it. I felt like I owed him now, like I needed to protect him or make things up to him somehow.**

"You don't need to do that, Rose," Eddie piped up.

Rose nodded, but didn't listen. She was going to protect _him_ no matter what happened.

**And that was kind of funny, because I think Eddie was trying to protect me.**

Eddie smiled.

**He wasn't stalking me or anything, but I'd noticed him keeping an eye on me. I think after what had happened, he felt he owed it to Mason to watch over his girlfriend.**

He mentally nodded.

**I never bothered to tell Eddie that I hadn't been Mason's girlfriend, not in the real sense of the word, just as I never rebuked Eddie for his big brother behavior. I could certainly take care of myself. But whenever I heard him warning other guys away from me, pointing out that I wasn't ready to date anyone yet, I saw no point in interfering. It was all true. I wasn't ready to date.**

_I'm amazing_, Eddie thought to himself.

**Eddie gave me a lopsided smile that added a little boy type of cuteness**

He glared at Rose. He wasn't _cute_. He was _hot_.

**to his long face. "Are you excited?"**

**"Hell, yeah," I said. Our classmates were filling in bleachers on one side of the gym, and we found a clear spot near the middle. "It's going to be like a vacation. Me and Lissa, together for six weeks."**

_Or not_, Rose thought.

**As frustrating as our bond was sometimes, it nonetheless made me her ideal guardian. I always knew where she was and what was happening to her. Once we graduated and were out in the world, I'd be assigned to her officially.**

"Or so you think," Adrian said eerily.

**He turned thoughtful. "Yeah, I guess you don't have to worry as much. You know your assignment when you graduate. The rest of us aren't so lucky."**

**"You got your sights set on someone royal?" I teased.**

**"Well, it doesn't matter. Most guardians are assigned to royals lately anyway."**

"True," Mia muttered. She wanted Eddie as her guardian, but she was glad he had gotten assigned to Lissa.

**That was true. Dhampirs–half-vampires like me–**

"We know!" Viktoria exclaimed.

Rose rolled her eyes and smiled at her.

**were in short supply, and royals usually got first pick of guardians. There was a time in the past when more Moroi, royal and non-royal alike, would have gotten guardians,**

Mia nodded primly.

**and novices like us would have competed fiercely to get assigned to someone important. Now it was almost a given that every guardian would work for a royal family. There weren't enough of us to go around, and less influential families were on their own.**

"Stupid system," Mia muttered.

Lissa was thinking of changing that.

**"Still," I said, "I guess it's a question of which royal you get, right? I mean, some are total snobs, but lots of them are cool. Get someone really rich and powerful, and you could be living at the Royal Court or traveling to exotic places."**

Lissa smiled at that. That's exactly what she wanted to do as well.

**That last part appealed to me a lot, and I often had fantasies of Lissa and me traveling the world.**

**"Yup," agreed Eddie. He nodded toward a few guys in the front row. "You wouldn't believe the way those three have been sucking up to some of the Ivashkovs and Szelskys. It won't affect their assignments here, of course, but you can tell they're already trying to set things up after graduation."**

**"Well, the field experience can affect that. How we're rated on this will go into our records."**

Everyone looked at Rose.

"I passed, okay?" she said to them.

**Eddie nodded again and started to say something when a loud, clear feminine voice cut through the murmur of our conversation. We both looked up. While we'd been talking, our instructors had gathered in front of the bleachers and now stood facing us in an impressive line. Dimitri was among them, dark and imposing and irresistible. Alberta was trying to call us to attention. The crowd fell silent.**

**"All right," she began. Alberta was in her fifties, wiry and tough. Seeing her reminded me of the conversation she and Dimitri had had last night, but I filed that away for later. Victor Dashkov was not going to ruin this moment.**

_He will ruin a later moment, though_, Rose thought bitterly.

**"You all know why you're here." We'd become so quiet, so tense and excited, that her voice now rang through the gym.**

"Shocking," Alberta mumbled.

**"This is the most important day of your education before you take your final trials. Today you will find out which Moroi you've been placed with. Last week, you were given a booklet with the full details of how the next six weeks will play out. I trust you've all read it by now." I had, actually.**

Everyone looked at Rose shocked.

"Yes, I do read," Rose shot back. "…Things I have to."

**I'd probably never read anything so thoroughly in my life. "Just to recap, Guardian Alto will highlight the main rules of this exercise."**

**She handed a clipboard to Guardian Stan Alto. He was one of my least favorite instructors, but after Mason's death, some of the tension between us had lightened. We understood each other better now.**

Rose mentally scoffed.

**"Here we go," said Stan gruffly. "You'll be on duty six days a week. This is actually a treat for you guys. In the real world, you're usually working every day. You will accompany your Moroi everywhere–to class, to their dorms, to their feedings.**

Rose shuddered.

**Everything. It's up to you to figure out how you fit into their lives. Some Moroi interact with their guardians just like friends;**

Rose and Lissa looked at each other.

**some Moroi prefer you to be more of an invisible ghost who doesn't talk to them." Did he have to use the word **_**ghost**_**?**

Rose hated that word so much.

**"Every situation is different, and you two will have to find a way to work it out to best ensure their safety.**

**"Attacks may come at any time, anywhere, and we'll be dressed in all black when it happens. You should always be on your guard. Remember, even though you'll obviously know it's **_**us**_** doing the attacking and not real Strigoi, you should respond as though your lives are in terrible, immediate danger. Don't be afraid of hurting us.**

Rose smirked.

**Some of you, I'm sure, won't have any qualms about getting us back for past grievances."**

"Nope," Rose exclaimed, popping the 'p'.

**Students in the crowd giggled at this. "But some of you may feel like you have to hold back, for fear of getting in trouble. Don't. You'll get in more trouble if you do hold back. Don't worry. We can take it."**

**He flipped to the next page of his clipboard. "You will be on duty twenty-four hours a day for your six-day cycles, but you may sleep during daylight when your Moroi does. Just be aware that although Strigoi attacks are rare in daylight, they aren't impossible indoors, and you will not necessarily be 'safe' during these times."**

**Stan read over a few more technicalities,**

_Bleh_, Rose thought.

**and I found myself tuning them out.**

"Should have known," Janine said.

**I knew this stuff. We all did. Glancing around, I could see I wasn't alone in my impatience. Excitement and apprehension crackled in the crowd. Hands were clenched. Eyes were wide. We all wanted our assignments. We all wanted this to begin.**

_Impatient_, Christian thought.

**When Stan finished, he handed the clipboard to Alberta. "Okay," she said. "I'm going to call out your names one by one and announce who you're paired with. At that time, come down here to the floor, and Guardian Chase will give you a packet containing information about your Moroi's schedule, past, etcetera."**

_Boring_, Rose thought. _Do they ever stop yapping?_

**We all straightened up as she leafed through her papers. Students whispered. Beside me, Eddie exhaled heavily. "Oh man. I hope I get someone good," he muttered.**

"Oh, you will," Rose muttered.

Eddie looked at her sympathetically.

**"I don't want to be miserable for the next six weeks."**

**I squeezed his arm reassuringly. "You will," I whispered back. "Er, get someone good, I mean. Not be miserable."**

**"Ryan Aylesworth," Alberta announced clearly. Eddie flinched, and I instantly knew why. Before, Mason Ashford had always been the first one called on any class lists. That would never happen again. "You are assigned to Camille Conta."**

**"Damn," muttered someone behind us, who'd apparently been hoping to get Camille.**

"Suck it up," Rose muttered.

**Ryan was one of the suck-ups in the front row, and he grinned broadly as he walked over to take his packet. The Contas were an up-and-coming royal family. It was rumored that one of their members was a candidate for when the Moroi queen eventually named her heir. Plus, Camille was pretty cute. Following her around wouldn't be too hard for any guy. Ryan, walking with a swagger, seemed very pleased with himself.**

Rose and Eddie both rolled their eyes at that statement.

**"Dean Barnes," she said next. "You have Jesse Zeklos."**

"Ew," Eddie and I said in unison.

**"Ugh," Eddie and I both said together. If I'd been assigned to Jesse, he would have needed an extra person to protect him. From me.**

"Oh, Rose," Janine sighed exasperatedly.

**Alberta kept reading names, and I noticed Eddie was sweating. "Please, please let me get someone good," he muttered.**

**"You will," I said. "You will."**

**"Edison Castile," Alberta announced. He gulped. "Vasilisa Dragomir."**

Sydney's mouth gaped open. "What!?" she exclaimed.

"That's what I said, too," Rose told her.

**Eddie and I both froze for the space of a heartbeat, and then duty made him stand up and head toward the floor. As he stepped down the bleachers, he shot me a quick, panicked look over his shoulder. His expression seemed to say, **_**I don't know! I don't know!**_

"That made two of us," Rose said, glaring at Dimitri.

**That made two of us.**

Adrian laughed at the similarity.

**The world around me slowed to a blur. Alberta kept calling names, but I didn't hear any of them. What was going on? Clearly, someone had made a mistake. Lissa was **_**my**_** assignment.**

"Not anymore, Miss Hathaway," Alberta said to book-Rose.

**She had to be. I was going to be her guardian when we graduated.**

"That wasn't guaranteed," Janine stated.

**This made no sense. Heart racing, I watched Eddie walk over to Guardian Chase and get his packet and practice stake. He glanced down at the papers immediately, and I suspected he was double-checking the name, certain there was a mix-up. The expression on his face when he looked up told me that it was Lissa's name he'd found.**

**I took a deep breath. Okay. No need to panic just yet. Someone had made a clerical error here, one that could be fixed. In fact, they'd have to fix it soon. When they got to me and read Lissa's name **_**again**_**, they were going to realize they'd double-booked one of the Moroi. They'd straighten it out and give Eddie someone else. After all, there were plenty of Moroi to go around. They outnumbered dhampirs at the school.**

"Unfortunately," Rose muttered.

**"Rosemarie Hathaway." I tensed.**

Everyone in the room, that didn't know the result, tensed.

**"Christian Ozera."**

"What?!" Janine exclaimed. "You do realize that she wouldn't killed him, right?"

"But she didn't," Alberta told her calmly.

**I simply stared at Alberta, unable to move or respond. No. She had **_**not**_** just said what I thought. A few people, noticing my lack of movement, glanced back at me. But I was dumbstruck. This wasn't happening. My Mason delusion from last night seemed more real than this. A few moments later, Alberta also realized I wasn't moving. She looked up from her clipboard with annoyance, scanning the crowd.**

**"Rose Hathaway?"**

**Someone elbowed me, like maybe I didn't recognize my own name. Swallowing, I stood and walked down the bleachers, robot-like. There was a mistake.**

"Nope," Alberta said.

**There **_**had**_** to be a mistake.**

"No, mistake."

**I headed toward Guardian Chase, feeling like a puppet that someone else was controlling. He handed me my packet and a practice stake meant to "kill" the adult guardians with, and I stepped out of the way for the next person.**

**Disbelieving, I read the words on the packet's cover three times. **_**Christian Ozera**_**. Flipping it open, I saw his life spread out before me. A current picture. His class schedule. His family tree. His bio. It even went into detail about his parents' tragic history, how they'd chosen to become Strigoi and had murdered several people before finally being hunted down and killed.**

Christian flinched. He didn't like thinking about it, nor did he like hearing about it.

**Our directions at this point had been to read through our dossiers, pack a bag, and then meet up with our Moroi at lunch. As more names were called, many of my classmates lingered around the gym, talking to their friends and showing off their packets. I hovered near one group, discreetly waiting for a chance to talk to Alberta and Dimitri.**

"'Talk'?" Dimitri asked. "More like 'yell'."

**It was a sign of my newly developing patience**

Christian scoffed.

**that I didn't walk right up to them then and there and demand answers.**

"That's a start," Janine muttered.

**Believe me, I wanted to. Instead, I let them go through their list, but it felt like forever. Honestly, how long did it take to read a bunch of names?**

**When the last novice had been assigned his Moroi, Stan shouted above the din for us to move on to the next stage of the assignment and tried to herd out my classmates. I cut through the crowd and stalked up to Dimitri and Alberta, who blessedly were standing with each other. They were chatting about something administrative and didn't notice me right away.**

**When they did glance at me, I held up my packet and pointed. "What's this?"**

"You're assignment," Abe said confusedly.

**Alberta's face looked blank and confused. Something in Dimitri's told me he'd been expecting this.**

Dimitri nodded.

**"It's your assignment, Miss Hathaway," Alberta said.**

**"No," I said through gritted teeth. "It's not. This is somebody else's assignment."**

**"The assignments in your field experience aren't optional," she told me sternly. "Just as your assignments in the real world won't be. You can't pick who you protect based on whim and mood, not here and certainly not after graduation."**

**"But after graduation, I'm going to be Lissa's guardian!" I exclaimed. "Everyone knows that. I'm supposed to have her for this thing."**

**"I know it's an accepted idea that you'll be together after graduation, but I do not recall any mandatory rulings that say you're 'supposed' to have her or anyone **_**here**_** at school. You take who you're assigned."**

**"Christian?"**

"Yes?" he answered.

Rose rolled her eyes.

**I threw my packet on the floor. "You're out of your mind if you think I'm guarding him."**

**"Rose!" snapped Dimitri, joining the conversation at last. His voice was so hard and so sharp that I flinched and forgot what I was saying for half a second. "You're out of line. You do **_**not**_** speak to your instructors like that."**

**I hated being chastised by anyone. I especially hated being chastised by him. And I **_**especially**_** hated being chastised by him when he was right.**

Dimitri looked down. He hated yelling at Rose, but she was way out of line.

**But I couldn't help it. I was too angry, and the lack of sleep was taking its toll. My nerves felt raw and strained, and suddenly, little things seemed difficult to bear. And big things like this? Impossible to bear.**

**"Sorry," I said with great reluctance. "But this is stupid. Nearly as stupid as not bringing us to Victor Dashkov's trial."**

**Alberta blinked in surprise.**

_I shouldn't have been_, Alberta scolded herself.

**"How did you know–never mind. We'll deal with that later. For now, this is your assignment, and you need to do it."**

**Eddie suddenly spoke up beside me, his voice filled with apprehension. I'd lost track of him earlier. "Look…I don't mind…We can switch…"**

**Alberta turned her stony gaze from me to him. "No, you certainly cannot. Vasilisa Dragomir is **_**your**_** assignment." She looked back at me." And Christian Ozera is yours. End of discussion."**

"Burn!" Christian exclaimed.

Rose sent him a death glare.

**"This is stupid!" I repeated. "Why should I waste my time with Christian?**

"Aw!" Christian exclaimed with much sarcasm. "Love you too, Rosie-Posie!"

Rose glared at him. "Say that one more timey-whimey and I'll brake your jawy-wawy."

Christian backed away in fear.

**Lissa's the one I'm going to be with when I graduate. Seems like if you want me to be able to do a good job, you should have me practice with her."**

**"You will do a good job with her," said Dimitri. "Because you know her.**

"Very well, at that," Dimitri added in.

**And you have your bond. But somewhere, someday, you could end up with a different Moroi. You need to learn how to guard someone with whom you have absolutely no experience."**

**"I have experience with Christian," I grumbled. "That's the problem. I hate him."**

Christian glared at Rose.

**Okay, that was a huge exaggeration. Christian annoyed me, true, but I didn't really hate him.**

Now, he raised an eyebrow.

**As I'd said, working together against the Strigoi had changed a lot of things. Again, I felt like my lack of sleep and general irritability were cranking up the magnitude of everything.**

**"So much the better," said Alberta. "Not everyone you protect will be your friend. Not everyone you protect will be someone you like. You need to learn this."**

**"I need to learn how to fight Strigoi," I said. "I've learned that in class." I fixed them with a sharp look, ready to play my trump card. "**_**And**_** I've done it in person."**

**"There's more to this job than the technicalities, Miss Hathaway.**

Every single guardian nodded.

**There's a whole personal aspect–a bedside manner, if you will–that we don't touch on much in class. We teach you how to deal with the Strigoi. You need to learn how to deal with the Moroi yourselves. And **_**you**_** in particular need to deal with someone who has not been your best friend for years."**

**"You also need to learn what it's like to work with someone when you can't instantly sense that they're in danger," added Dimitri.**

**"Right," agreed Alberta. "That's a handicap. If you want to be a good guardian–if you want to be an excellent guardian–then you need to do as we say."**

Janine nodded at Rose, wishing that her daughter would just shut up and take the assignment already.

**I opened my mouth to fight this, to argue that having someone I was so close to would train me up faster and make me a better guardian for any other Moroi. Dimitri cut me off.**

**"Working with another Moroi will also help keep Lissa alive," he said.**

Janine nodded in agreement.

**That shut me down. It was pretty much the only thing that could have, and damn him, he knew it.**

Dimitri nodded triumphantly.

**"What do you mean?" I asked.**

**"Lissa's got a handicap too–**

Lissa looked at the book questioningly.

**you.**

She was even more confused.

**If she never has a chance to learn what it's like to be guarded by someone without a psychic connection, she could be at greater risk if attacked.**

_Makes sense_, Lissa thought.

**Guarding someone is really a two-person relationship. This assignment for your field experience is as much for her as for you."**

**I stayed silent as I processed his words. They almost made sense.**

**"And," added Alberta, "it's the only assignment you're going to get. If you don't take it, then you opt out of the field experience."**

Lissa stared wide-eyed at the book. She didn't need Rose to be opted out.

**Opt out?**

"Yes, Rose," Adrian stated. "That's what she said.

Tasha smirked mentally.

**Was she crazy?**

Alberta looked at Rose like _she_ was the crazy one. "No, Rose. I am not."

**It wasn't like a class I could sit out from for one day. If I didn't do my field experience, I didn't graduate. I wanted to explode about unfairness, but Dimitri stopped me without saying a word. The constant, calm look in his dark eyes held me back, encouraging me to accept this gracefully–or as close as I could manage.**

**Reluctantly I picked up the packet. "Fine," I said icily. "I'll do this. But I want it noted that I'm doing this against my will."**

**"I think we already figured that out, Miss Hathaway," remarked Alberta dryly.**

**"Whatever. I still think it's a horrible idea, and you eventually will too."**

"Threat," Adrian exclaimed.

They all ignored him.

**I turned and stormed off across the gym before any of them could respond. In doing so, I fully realized what a bitchy little brat I sounded like.**

Dimitri and Alberta nodded.

**But if they'd just endured their best friend's sex life, seen a ghost, and hardly gotten any sleep, they'd have been bitchy too.**

Adrian was about to say something totally inappropriate when Rose interrupted him.

"Not right now!"

**Plus, I was about to spend six weeks with Christian Ozera. He was sarcastic, difficult, and made jokes about everything.**

"Doesn't that sound like someone we all know?" Eddie joked.

Everyone looked at Rose.

"What?" she asked defensively.

**Actually, he was a lot like me.**

_Not gonna admit to anything_, Rose thought stubbornly.

**It was going to be a long six weeks.**

"And that it was," Rose said.

"Who's reading next?" Lissa asked.

"I will," Jill said, taking the book from her. "**Chapter three**."


	4. Sorry, not a chapter

Sorry that I haven't been updating, guys. I've been very busy with my schoolwork. You should already know this information if you've been checking out my Facebook Fan Page. I have a 5-page essay on _Ethan Frome_ due in less than 3 weeks. I've been mainly focusing on that.

I would like to thank each and every one of you who read and review my work. It means a lot to me. When I check my e-mail and I see that I got a new review and the things that they say just warm my heart.

I am currently woking on a chapter for the Twilight Ultimate Guide.

This is just a note saying that I haven't forgotten about you guys. I've just been really busy. I hope you guys forgive me for not updating in a long time, but I'm doing the best that I can at the moment. I know I won't be updating today, but I _**WILL**___be updating by next week (I promise).

Like I said...I'm so sorry for not updating in a while, but I will shortly.

See you in time,

Stephanie


	5. Author's Note 3

So sorry that I haven't been around, guys. I had accidently given my computer a virus and that's why I haven't been updating, let alone writing. I can't promise any updates soon, but I _will_ update. I'm just not sure when. Please forgive me, everybody.

-Stephanie

P.S. If you go to my Facebook FanPage, you would have already known why I haven't been updating. (Just sayin')


	6. Chapter 3

**I'm soooooooooooo sorry I haven't updated, but summer's coming, so I'll definitely be on more. Please enjoy this long awaited chapter.**

* * *

Rose pov

"**Chapter Three."**

"**Why so glum, little dhampir?"**

_Life_, I thought to myself.

**I was heading across the quad, toward the commons, when I detected the scent of clove cigarettes. I sighed.**

**"Adrian, you are the last person I want to see right now."**

"Burned!" Eddie exclaimed.

**Adrian Ivashkov hurried up beside me, blowing a cloud of smoke into the air that of course drifted right toward me. I waved it off and made a great show of exaggerated coughing. Adrian was a royal Moroi we'd "acquired" on our recent ski trip.**

Jill put the word "acquired" in air quotations.

**He was a few years older than me and had come back to St. Vladimir's to work on learning spirit with Lissa. So far, he was the only other spirit user we knew of. He was arrogant and spoiled and spent a lot of his time indulging in cigarettes, alcohol, and women. He also had a crush on me–or at least wanted to get me into bed.**

Dimitri glared at Adrian.

**"Apparently," he said. "I've hardly seen you at all since we got back. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were avoiding me."**

**"I **_**am**_** avoiding you."**

**He exhaled loudly and raked a hand through the sable brown hair he always kept stylishly messy. "Look, Rose. You don't have to keep up with the hard-to-get thing. You've already got me."**

Dimitri was glaring the hell out of Adrian by now. I smirked.

**Adrian knew perfectly well I wasn't playing hard-to-get, but he always took a particular delight in teasing me.**

The boy in question nodded.

**"I'm really not in the mood for your so-called charm today."**

**"What happened, then? You're stomping through every puddle you can find and look like you're going to punch the first person you see."**

**"Why are you hanging around, then? Aren't you worried about getting hit?"**

"Typical Rose," Lissa stated.

**"Aw, you'd never hurt me. My face is too pretty."**

Dimitri scoffed.

**"Not pretty enough to make up for the gross, carcinogenic smoke blowing in my face. How can you do that? Smoking's not allowed on campus. Abby Badica got two weeks' detention when she got caught."**

**"I'm above the rules, Rose. I'm neither student nor staff, merely a free spirit wandering your fair school as I will."**

**"Maybe you should go do some wandering now."**

**"You want to get rid of me, you tell me what's going on."**

If she doesn't want to tell you, she doesn't have to tell you!" Dimitri exclaimed to Adrian.

"Babe," I warned.

Dimitri puffed and sat back, leaning into me.

**There was no avoiding it. Besides, he'd know soon enough. Everyone would know. "I got assigned to Christian for my field experience."**

**There was a pause, and then Adrian burst out laughing. "Wow. Now I understand. In light of that, you actually seem remarkably calm."**

**"I was supposed to have Lissa," I growled. "I can't believe they did this to me."**

**"Why **_**did**_** they do it? Is there some chance you might not be with her when you graduate?"**

"No!" Lissa and I both exclaimed in unison.

Dimitri and Lissa chuckled at this.

**"No. They just all seem to think this is going to help me train better now. Dimitri and I will still be her real guardians later."**

**Adrian gave me a sidelong glance. "Oh, I'm sure that'll be quite the hardship for you."**

**It had to be one of the weirdest things in the universe that Lissa had never come close to suspecting my feelings for Dimitri but that Adrian had figured it out.**

"I'm surprised I didn't figure it out sooner," Lissa muttered, giving me a sly look.

I blushed and looked down.

"Aw, look at little Rosey blushing," Christian teased.

I took off my shoe and threw it at him, quieting him down.

**"Like I said, your commentary isn't appreciated today."**

**He apparently didn't agree. I had a suspicious feeling he'd been drinking already, and it was barely even lunchtime. "What's the problem? Christian'll be with Lissa all the time anyway."**

**Adrian had a point. Not that I'd have admitted it. Then, in that short-attention-span way of his, he switched subjects just as we neared the building.**

**"Have I mentioned your aura to you?" he asked suddenly.**

"Strange subject change," Mia mumbed.

**There was a strange note to his voice. Hesitant. Curious. It was **_**very**_** uncharacteristic. Everything he usually said was mocking.**

**"I don't know. Yeah, once. You said it was dark or something. Why?" Auras were fields of light that surrounded every person. Their colors and brightness were allegedly linked to a person's personality and energy. Only spirit users could see them. Adrian had been doing it for as long as he could remember, but Lissa was still learning.**

**"Hard to explain. Maybe it's nothing." He came to a stop near the door and inhaled deeply on his cigarette. He went out of his way to blow a cloud of smoke away from me,**

"At least he's decent," Mom muttered.

**but the wind carried it back. "Auras are strange. They ebb and flow and change colors and brightness. Some are vivid, some are pale. Every once in a while, someone's will settle and burn with such a pure color that you can…" He tipped his head back, staring into the sky. I recognized the signs of that weird "unhinged" state he sometimes fell into. "You can instantly grasp what it means. It's like seeing into their soul."**

**I smiled. "But you haven't figured mine out, huh? Or what any of these colors mean?"**

**He shrugged. "I'm figuring it out. You talk to enough people, get a feel for what they're like and then start to see the same kinds of people with the same kinds of colors….After a while, the colors start to mean something."**

**"What's mine look like right now?"**

**He glanced over at me. "Eh, I can't quite get a fix on it today."**

**"I knew it. You've been drinking."**

"When is he not," Dimitri whispered to me.

**Substances, like alcohol or certain medications, numbed spirit's effects.**

**"Just enough to chase the chill away. I can guess what your aura's like, though. It's usually like the others, sort of those swirling colors–it's just kind of edged in darkness. Like you've always got a shadow following you."**

"It's all part of being shadow-kissed," I said to no one in particular.

**Something in his voice made me shiver. Although I'd heard him and Lissa talk about auras a lot, I'd never really thought of them as anything I needed to worry about. They were more like some kind of stage trick–a cool thing with little substance.**

**"That's so cheerful," I said. "You ever think about motivational speaking?"**

"At one point, yes, but not since I met you," Adrian said cheekily.

**His scattered look faded, and his normal mirth returned. "Don't worry, little dhampir. You might be surrounded by clouds, but you'll always be like sunshine to me." I rolled my eyes. He dropped his cigarette onto the sidewalk and put it out with his foot. "Gotta go. See you later." He swept me a gallant bow and started walking away toward guest housing.**

**"You just littered!" I yelled.**

**"Above the rules, Rose," he called back. "Above the rules."**

Alberta rolled her eyes.

**Shaking my head, I picked up the now-cold cigarette butt and took it to a garbage can that was outside the building. When I entered, the warmth inside was a welcome change as I shook off the slush on my boots. Down in the cafeteria, I found lunch wrapping up for the afternoon. Here, dhampirs sat side by side with Moroi, providing a study in contrasts. Dhampirs, with our half-human blood, were bigger–though not taller–and more solidly built. The girl novices were curvier than the ultra-slim Moroi girls, the boy novices far more muscular than their vampire counterparts. The Moroi complexions were pale and delicate, like porcelain, while ours were tanned from being outside in the sun so much.**

I loved my tanned skin.

**Lissa sat at a table by herself, looking serene and angelic in a white sweater. Her pale blond hair cascaded over her shoulders. She glanced up at my approach, and welcoming feelings flowed to me through our bond.**

**She grinned. "Oh, look at your face. It's true, isn't it? You really are assigned to Christian."**

**I glared.**

**"Would it kill you to be a **_**little**_** less miserable?" She gave me a censuring yet amused look as she licked the last of her strawberry yogurt off her spoon. "I mean, he's my boyfriend, after all. I hang out with him all the time. It's not that bad."**

**"You have the patience of a saint,"**

"True dat sista yo," Lissa said.

We all laughed.

"Stop trying to act all gansta," I said around my laughs.

**I grumbled, slouching into a chair. "And besides, you don't hang out with him 24/7."**

**"Neither will you. It's only 24/6."**

**"Same difference. It might as well be 24/10."**

**She frowned. "That doesn't make any sense."**

Dimitri laughed at my senselessness.

**I waved off my idiotic remark and started blankly around the lunchroom. The room was buzzing with news of the impending field exercise, which would kick off as soon as lunch ended. Camille's best friend had gotten assigned to Ryan's best friend, and the four of them huddled gleefully together, looking as though they were about to embark on a six-week double date. At least someone would enjoy all this. I sighed. Christian, my soon-to-be charge, was off with the feeders–humans who willingly donated blood to Moroi.**

Sydney visibly shuddered.

**Through our bond, I sensed Lissa wanting to tell me something. She was holding off because she was worried about my bad mood and wanted to make sure I got enough support. I smiled. "Stop worrying about me. What's up?"**

**She smiled back, her pink-glossed lips hiding her fangs. "I got permission."**

**"Permission for–?" The answer flitted from her mind faster than she could have voiced it. "What?" I exclaimed. "You're going to stop your meds?"**

Christian glared at Adrian, thinking he was the cause to this.

**Spirit was an amazing power, one whose cool abilities we were just starting to figure out. It had a very nasty side effect, however: It could lead to depression and insanity. Part of the reason Adrian indulged in drinking so much (aside from his party nature) was to numb himself against these side effects. Lissa had a much healthier way of doing it. She took antidepressants, which completely cut her off from the magic altogether. She hated not being able to work with spirit anymore, but that was an acceptable trade-off for not going crazy.**

Liss nodded.

**Well, I thought it was. She apparently disagreed if she was considering this insane experiment. I knew she'd been wanting to try the magic again, but I hadn't really thought she'd go through with it–or that anyone would let her.**

**"I have to check in with Ms. Carmack every day and regularly talk to a counselor." Lissa made a face at this last part, but her overall feelings were still quite upbeat. "I can't wait to see what I can do with Adrian."**

Christian glared at Adrian even harder.

**"Adrian's a bad influence."**

"I am not," Adrian argued.

We ignored it.

**"He didn't make me do this, Rose. I chose it." When I didn't answer, she lightly touched my arm. "Hey, listen. Don't worry. I've been so much better, and lots of people are going to have my back."**

**"Everyone except me," I told her wistfully. Across the room, Christian entered through a set of double doors and approached us. The clock read five minutes until the end of lunch. "Oh man. The zero hour is almost here."**

Christian smirked at this.

**Christian pulled up a chair at our table and flipped it backwards, letting his chin rest on its slatted back.**

"Trying to be all gangster?" I asked dramatically.

Christian laughed.

**He brushed his black hair away from his blue eyes and gave us a smug smile. I felt Lissa's heart lighten at his presence.**

**"I can't wait until this show gets on the road," he said. "You and me are going to have so much fun, Rose. Picking out curtains, doing each other's hair, telling ghost stories…"**

"Are you secretly gay?" Eddie asked, laughing.

Christian growled slightly, making a small fire ball in his hand.

Eddie laughed harder. "I'm not scared of you, bro."

**The reference to "ghost stories" hit a little closer to home than I was comfortable with. Not that choosing curtains or brushing Christian's hair was much more appealing.**

**I shook my head in exasperation and stood up. "I'll leave you two alone for your last few private moments." They laughed.**

**I walked over to the lunch line, hoping to find some leftover doughnuts from breakfast. So far, I could see croissants, quiche, and poached pears. It must have been highbrow day at the cafeteria. Was deep-fried dough really too much to ask for?**

"Yes," everyone said to me.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Shut up."

**Eddie stood in front of me. His face turned apologetic as soon as he saw me.**

**"Rose, I'm really sorry–"**

**I put up a hand to stop him. "Don't worry. It's not your fault.**

I looked at him. "It really wasn't."

**Just promise me you'll do a good job protecting her."**

"Of course," Eddie said.

**It was a silly sentiment since she was in no real danger, but I could never really stop worrying about her–particularly in light of this new development with her medication.**

**Eddie stayed serious, apparently not thinking my request was silly at all. He was one of the few who knew about Lissa's abilities–and their downsides, which was probably why he'd been selected to guard her. "I won't let anything happen to her. I mean it."**

**I couldn't help a smile, in spite of my glum mood. His experiences with the Strigoi made him take all of this more seriously than almost any other novice. Aside from me, he was probably the best choice to guard her.**

Alberta nodded. "That's why we chose him."

**"Rose, is it true you punched Guardian Petrov?"**

"No," I snorted.

**I turned and looked into the faces of two Moroi, Jesse Zeklos and Ralf Sarcozy. They'd just stepped in line behind Eddie and me and looked more self-satisfied and annoying than usual. Jesse was all bronzed good looks and quick thinking. Ralf was his slightly less attractive and slightly less intelligent sidekick. They were quite possibly the two people I hated most at this school, mainly due to some nasty rumors they'd spread about me doing some very explicit things with them.**

Dad raised an eyebrow at me.

"Rumors," I repeated.

**It was Mason's strong-arming that had forced them to tell the truth to the school, and I don't think they'd ever forgiven me for that.**

**"Punch Alberta? Hardly." I started to turn around, but Ralf kept talking.**

**"We heard you threw a big hissy fit in the gym when you found out who you were with."**

**"'Hissy fit'? What are you, sixty? All I did was–"**

"Throw a hissy fit?" Christian continued.

I glared at him.

**I paused and carefully chose my words. "–register my opinion."**

**"Well," said Jesse. "I suppose if anyone's going to keep an eye on that Strigoi wannabe,**

Christian glared at the book.

**it might as well be you. You're the biggest badass around here."**

_A badass that can kick your ass in an instant_, I thought.

**The grudging tone in his voice made it sound like he was complimenting me. I didn't see it that way at all. Before he could utter another word, I was standing right in front of him, with barely any space between us. In what I considered a true sign of discipline, I didn't put my hand around his throat.**

"That's a start," Mom stated.

**His eyes widened in surprise.**

**"Christian has nothing to do with any Strigoi," I said in a low voice.**

**"His parents–"**

**"Are his parents. And he's Christian. Don't confuse them."**

"Defensive, are we?" Christian asked.

I hid my face in Dimitri's shoulder.

**Jesse had been on the wrong side of my anger before. He was clearly remembering that, and his fear warred with his desire to trash-talk Christian in front of me. Surprisingly, the latter won out.**

**"Earlier you acted like being with him was the end of the world, and now you're defending him? You know how he is–he breaks rules all the time. Are you saying you seriously don't believe there's any chance at all he might turn Strigoi like his parents?"**

"None," I told book-Jesse.

**"None," I said. "Absolutely none. Christian's more willing to take a stand against Strigoi than probably any other Moroi here." Jesse's eyes flicked curiously toward Ralf before returning to me. "He even helped me fight against those ones in Spokane. There is no chance of him ever, **_**ever**_** turning Strigoi." I racked my brain, trying to recall who had been assigned to Jesse for the field experience. "And if I hear you spreading that crap around, Dean isn't going to be able to save you from me."**

"Pure threat," Eddie oooo-ed.

**"Or me," added Eddie, who had come to stand right beside me.**

**Jesse swallowed and took a step back. "You're such a liar. You can't lay a hand on me. If you get suspended now, you'll never graduate."**

**He was right, of course, but I smiled anyway. "Might be worth it. We'll have to see, huh?"**

**It was at that point that Jesse and Ralf decided they didn't want anything from the lunch line after all. They stalked off, and I heard something that sounded suspiciously like "crazy bitch."**

"I'm crazy and I know it," I sang to the tune of "I'm sexy and I know it" by LMFAO.

**"Jerks," I muttered. Then I brightened. "Oh, hey. Doughnuts."**

Dimitri signed, rolling his eyes.

**I got a chocolate-glazed, and then Eddie and I hurried off to find our Moroi and get to class. He grinned at me. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you just defended Christian's honor. Isn't he a pain in the ass?"**

**"Yes," I said, licking icing off my fingers. "He is. But for the next six weeks, he's **_**my**_** pain in the ass."**

"Yours, hm?" Christian asked.

"Shut up," I told him.

"Who's next to read?" Jill said.

"I will," Christian said, taking the book. "**Chapter four**."


	7. Chapter 4

**So sorry for the delay, guys. I've been having a rough summer so far. Working on the next chapter right now. R&R, please.**

* * *

Rose pov

"**Chapter Four**."

**It began.**

**At first, things weren't too different from any other day. Dhampirs and Moroi attended separate classes in the first half of the school day, then joined up after lunch. Christian had most of the same afternoon classes I'd had last semester, so it was almost like following my own schedule again. The difference was that I was no longer a student in these classes. I didn't sit at a desk or have to do any of the work.**

"Lucky," Lissa muttered.

**I was also a lot more uncomfortable since I had to stand at the back of the room the entire time, along with other novices who were guarding Moroi. Outside the school, this was what it was usually like. Moroi came first. Guardians were shadows.**

**There was a strong temptation to talk to our fellow novices, particularly during times when the Moroi were working on their own and talking amongst themselves. None of us cracked, though.**

"Good," Alberta stated, smug.

**The pressure and adrenaline of the first day had us all on good behavior.**

**After biology, Eddie and I started using a bodyguard technique called pair guarding. I was near guard and walked with Lissa and Christian for immediate defense. Eddie, being far guard, walked farther away and scanned the larger area for any potential threats.**

Alberta, Mom, and Dimitri nodded in approval.

**We followed this pattern for the rest of the day, up until the last class came around. Lissa gave Christian a quick kiss on the cheek, and I realized they were parting.**

**"You guys don't have the same schedule this time?" I asked with dismay, stepping over to the side of the hall to stay out of student traffic. Eddie had already deduced that we were parting and had stopped far guard duties to come talk to us. I hadn't known how Lissa and Christian's schedules lined up for this new semester.**

**Lissa took in my disappointed look and gave me a sympathetic smile. "Sorry. We're going to study together after school, but right now, I've got to go to creative writing."**

"Bleh," I stated.

Lissa rolled her eyes at me.

**"And I," declared Christian loftily, "have to go to culinary science."**

"Even more bleh."

**"Culinary science?" I cried. "You elected culinary science? That's like the most brainless class ever."**

**"It is not," he countered. "And even if it was…well, hey, it's my last semester, right?" I groaned.**

**"Come on, Rose," laughed Lissa. "It's just one class period. It won't be that–"**

**She was cut off when a commotion broke out farther down the hall.**

Dad raised an eyebrow at this. Guess he didn't know how this all worked.

**We and everyone near us stopped and stared. One of my guardian instructors, Emil, had practically appeared out of nowhere and–playing Strigoi–reached for a Moroi girl. He swung her away, pressing her to his chest and exposing her neck as though he would bite her. I couldn't see who she was, just a tangle of brown hair, but her assigned protector was Shane Reyes. The attack had caught him by surprise–it was the first one of the day–but he fumbled only a little as he kicked Emil in the side and wrested the girl away. The two guys squared off, and everyone watched eagerly. A few even whistled and shouted, cheering Shane on.**

**One of the catcallers was Ryan Aylesworth. He was so fixated on watching the fight–which Shane, wielding his practice stake, had just about won–that he didn't notice two other adult guardians sneaking up on him and Camille.**

"You always should be defensive and on guard at times like this," Alberta scolded book-Ryan.

**Eddie and I realized it at the same time and stiffened, instinct readying both of us to spring forward.**

**"Stay with them," Eddie told me.**

"Good form, Edison," Alberta stated.

**He headed toward Ryan and Camille, who had just discovered they were being set upon. Ryan didn't react as well as Shane had, particularly since he faced two attackers. One of the guardians distracted Ryan while the other–Dimitri, I now saw–grabbed Camille.**

"Jealous, yet, Little Dhampir?" Adrian asked.

I shook my head at him.

**She screamed, not faking her fear. She apparently didn't find being in Dimitri's arms as thrilling as I did.**

"Nope," Sydney said.

**Eddie headed toward them, approaching from behind, and landed a blow on the side of Dimitri's head. It hardly fazed Dimitri, but I was still amazed. I'd barely ever been able to land a hit on him in all our trainings. Eddie's attack forced Dimitri to release Camille and face this new threat. He spun around, graceful as a dancer, and advanced on Eddie.**

"Go, Eddie!" Christian cheered.

**Meanwhile, Shane had "staked" his Strigoi and jumped in to help Eddie, moving around to Dimitri's other side. I watched, fists clenched in excitement, intrigued with the fighting in general and with watching Dimitri in particular. It amazed me that someone so deadly could be so beautiful. I wished I was part of the fray but knew I had to watch the area around me in case any "Strigoi" attacked here.**

All the guardians in the room nodded in approval.

**But they didn't. Shane and Eddie successfully "finished off" Dimitri. Part of me was a little sad at this. I wanted Dimitri to be good at everything. However, Ryan had tried to help and failed. Dimitri had technically "killed" him, so I felt a twisted comfort in thinking that Dimitri had still been a badass Strigoi.**

Dimitri flinched at that.

**He and Emil praised Shane for being fast on his feet and Eddie for realizing we had to treat this as a group endeavor rather than one-on-one trials. I got a nod for watching Eddie's back, and Ryan was chastised for not paying attention to his Moroi.**

I laughed.

**Eddie and I grinned at each other, happy over getting high marks on this first test. I wouldn't have minded a slightly bigger role, but this wasn't a bad start to the field experience. We high-fived, and I saw Dimitri shake his head at us as he left.**

Dimitri smiled, shaking his head.

**With the drama over, our foursome split up. Lissa gave me one last smile over her shoulder and spoke to me through the bond, Have fun in culinary science! I rolled my eyes, but she and Eddie had already rounded a corner.**

**"Culinary science" sounded pretty impressive, but really, it was just a fancy term for what was essentially a cooking class.**

"It was a fun class," Christian defended.

**Despite my teasing Christian about it being brainless, I had some respect for it. I could barely boil water, after all.**

Christian scoffed and I almost slapped him, but Lissa was in the way.

**Still, it was a lot different from an elective like creative writing or debate, and I had no doubts Christian was taking it as a blow-off class and not because he wanted to be a chef someday. At least I might get some satisfaction out of watching him mix a cake or something. Maybe he'd even wear an apron.**

"If you weren't there," Christian said, "then maybe I would've."

If he had, I would've taken a picture and posted it online and humiliated him to death. Mmmmwwwaaaahahahahaha.

**There were three other novices in the class who were guarding Moroi. Since the culinary science room was large and open, with lots of windows, the four of us worked together to come up with a plan to pool our efforts and secure the whole room. When I'd watched novices do their field experiences in past years, I'd only ever paid attention to the fights. I'd never noticed the teamwork and strategizing that must have been going on. Theoretically, the four of us were here to only protect our assigned Moroi, but we'd slipped into a role where we were protecting the whole class.**

Alberta, Mom, and Dimitri all nodded in approval.

**My post was by a fire door that led outside of the school. Coincidentally, it was right by the station Christian was working at. The class normally cooked in pairs, but there was an odd number of students. Rather than work in a group of three, Christian had volunteered to be by himself. No one had seemed to mind. Many still regarded him and his family with the same prejudice that Jesse did. To my disappointment, Christian wasn't making a cake.**

"I would've liked that cake," I muttered.

**"What is that?" I asked, watching him take out a bowl of some kind of raw, ground-up meat from the refrigerator.**

**"Meat," he said, dumping it onto a cutting board.**

**"I know that, you idiot. What kind?"**

**"Ground beef." He pulled another container out and then another. "And this is veal. And this is pork."**

**"Do you have, like, a T. rex you're going to feed?"**

Lissa giggled a little.

**"Only if you want some. This is for meatloaf."**

**I stared. "With three kinds of meat?"**

**"Why eat something called meatloaf if you aren't actually going to get some meat out of it?"**

**I shook my head. "I can't believe this is only the first day with you."**

Christian chuckled.

**He glanced down, focusing on kneading his tri-meat creation together. "You sure are making a big deal out of this. Do you really hate me that much? I heard you were screaming at the top of your lungs back in the gym."**

**"No, I wasn't. And…I don't hate you at all," I admitted.**

**"You're just taking it out on me because you didn't get paired with Lissa."**

**I didn't answer. He wasn't that far off.**

"Told you," he muttered.

**"You know," he continued, "it might actually be a good idea for you to practice with someone different."**

**"I know. That's what Dimitri says too."**

**Christian put the meat into a bowl and started adding some other ingredients. "Then why question it? Belikov knows what he's doing. I'd trust anything he says. It sucks that they're going to lose him after we graduate, but I'd rather see him with Lissa."**

**"Me too."**

**He paused and looked up, meeting my eyes. We both smiled, amused at how shocked we were to have agreed with each other.**

"For a change," Lissa muttered.

We both looked at her.

**A moment later, he returned to his work.**

**"You're good too," he said, not too grudgingly. "The way you handled yourself…"**

**He didn't finish the thought, but I knew what he was talking about. Spokane. Christian hadn't been around when I killed the Strigoi, but he'd been instrumental in helping with the escape. He and I had teamed up, using his fire magic as a means of letting me subdue our captors. We'd worked well together, all of our animosity put aside.**

Everyone nodded at that.

**"I guess you and I have better things to do than fight all the time," I mused. Like worry about Victor Dashkov's trial, I realized. For a moment, I considered telling Christian what I'd learned. He'd been around the night it had all gone down with Victor last fall, but I decided not to mention the news just yet. Lissa needed to hear it first.**

**"Yup," Christian said, unaware of my thoughts. "Brace yourself, but we aren't that different. I mean, I'm smarter and a lot funnier, but at the end of the day, we both want to keep her safe." He hesitated. "You know…I'm not going to take her away from you. I can't. No one can, not as long as you guys have that bond."**

**I was surprised he'd brought this up.**

Lissa looked surprised as well.

**I honestly suspected that there were two reasons he and I argued a lot. One was that we both had personalities that liked to argue. The other reason–the big one–was that we were each envious of the other's relationship with Lissa. But, as he'd said, we really had the same motives. We cared about her.**

Christian and I both nodded.

**"And don't think the bond will keep you guys apart," I said. I knew the link bothered him. How could you ever get romantically close to someone when they had that kind of connection with another person, even if that other person was just a friend? "She cares about you…" I couldn't bring myself to say "loves."**

"Why not?" Liss asked.

I shrugged.

**"She has a whole separate place for you in her heart."**

**Christian put his dish in the oven. "You did not just say that. I have a feeling we're on the verge of hugging and coming up with cute nicknames for each other."**

Adrian laughed.

**He was trying to look disgusted at my sentiment, but I could tell he liked being told that Lissa cared about him.**

**"I already have a nickname for you, but I'll get in trouble if I say it in class."**

**"Ah," he said happily. "That's the Rose I know."**

I mentally laughed.

**He went off to talk to another friend while his meatloaf cooked, which was probably just as well. My door was a vulnerable position, and I shouldn't have been chatting away, even if the rest of the class was. Across the room, I saw Jesse and Ralf working together. Like Christian, they'd chosen a blow-off class too.**

**No attacks occurred, but a guardian named Dustin did come in to make notes on us novices as we held our positions. He was standing near me right when Jesse chose to stroll by. At first, I thought it was a coincidence–until Jesse spoke.**

**"I take back what I said earlier, Rose. I figured it out. You aren't upset because of Lissa or Christian. You're upset because the rules say you have to be with a student, and Adrian Ivashkov's too old."**

Adrian glared at the book.

**The way I hear it, you guys have already had a lot of practice watching each other's bodies."**

Now Dimitri was the one to glare at the book.

**That joke could have been so much funnier, but I'd learned not to expect too much from Jesse. I knew for a fact that he didn't care about Adrian and me. I also suspected he didn't even believe we had anything going on. But Jesse was still bitter about me threatening him earlier, and here was his chance to get back at me. Dustin, standing within earshot, had no interest in Jesse's idiotic teasing. Dustin would probably have an interest, however, if I slammed Jesse's face into the wall.**

Mom gave me a pointed look. "You better not have."

"I wish I did."

**That didn't mean I had to be silent, though. Guardians talked to Moroi all the time; they just tended to be respectful and still keep an eye on their surroundings. So I gave Jesse a small smile and simply said, "Your wit is always such a delight, Mr. Zeklos. I can barely contain myself around it." I then turned away and surveyed the rest of the room.**

Mom nodded in approval.

**When Jesse realized I wasn't going to do anything else, he laughed and walked away, apparently thinking he'd won some great victory. Dustin left shortly thereafter.**

**"Asshole," muttered Christian, returning to his station. Class had about five minutes left.**

**My eyes followed Jesse across the room. "You know something, Christian? I'm pretty happy to be guarding you."**

Everybody was shocked. I flipped them all off, getting disapproving looks from Mom, Abe, and Alberta.

**"If you're comparing me to Zeklos, I don't really take that as much of a compliment. But here, try this. Then you'll really be glad you're with me."**

**His masterpiece was finished, and he gave me a piece. I hadn't realized it, but just before the meatloaf had gone in, he'd wrapped it in bacon.**

**"Good God," I said. "This is the most stereotypical vampire food ever."**

**"Only if it was raw. What do you think?"**

**"It's good," I said reluctantly. Who knew that bacon would make all the difference? "Really good. I think you have a promising future as a housewife while Lissa works and makes millions of dollars."**

Lissa laughed at that.

**"Funny, that's exactly my dream."**

**We left the class in lighter moods. Things had grown more friendly between us, and I decided that I could handle the next six weeks protecting him.**

Christian grinned.

**He and Lissa were going to meet in the library to study–or pretend to study–but he had to stop by his dorm first. So I followed him across the quad, back into the winter air that had grown chillier since sunset seven hours ago. The snow on the paths, which had turned slushy in the sun, had now frozen up and made walking treacherous. Along the way, we were joined by Brandon Lazar, a Moroi who lived in Christian's hall. Brandon could barely contain himself, recapping a fight he'd witnessed in his math class. We listened to his rendition, all of us laughing at the thought of Alberta sneaking in through the window.**

Alberta grinned. "My favorite part of the job."

**"Hey, she might be old, but she could take on almost any of us,"**

Eddie and I nodded.

**I told them. I gave Brandon a puzzled look. He had bruises and red splotches on his face. He also had a few weird welts near his ear. "What happened to you? Have you been fighting guardians too?"**

**His smile promptly disappeared, and he looked away from me. "Nah, just fell."**

**"Come on," I said. Moroi might not train to fight like dhampirs did, but they got in brawls with each other just as often as anyone else. I tried to think of any Moroi he might have a conflict with. For the most part, Brandon was pretty likeable.**

The teen Moroi nodded in agreement.

**"That's the lamest, most unoriginal excuse in the world."**

**"It's true," he said, still avoiding my eyes.**

**"If someone's screwing with you, I can give you a few pointers."**

**He turned back to me, locking eyes. "Just let it go." He wasn't hostile or anything, but there was a firm note in his voice. It was almost like he believed saying the words alone would make me obey him.**

**I chuckled. "What are you trying to do? Compel me–"**

**Suddenly, I saw movement on my left.**

Jill gasped, scared for me.

**A slight shadow blending in with the dark shapes of a cluster of snowy pine trees–but moving just enough to catch my attention. Stan's face emerged from the darkness as he sprang toward us.**

**Finally, my first test.**

I fist-pumped.

**Adrenaline shot through me just as strongly as if a real Strigoi were approaching. I reacted instantly, reaching out to grab both Brandon and Christian. That was always the first move, to throw my own life before theirs. I jerked the two guys to a halt and turned toward my attacker, reaching for my stake in order to defend the Moroi–**

**And that's when he appeared.**

**Mason.**

All the girls gasped in shock.

I looked down, upset. Dimitri saw and pulled me toward him, laying my head on his chest.

**He stood several feet in front of me, off to Stan's right, looking just as he had last night. Translucent. Shimmering. Sad.**

**The hair on the back of my neck stood up. I froze, unable to move or finish going for my stake.**

"So," Mom asked, "that's what happened?"

I nodded, still upset.

**I forgot about what I'd been doing and completely lost track of the people and commotion around me. The world slowed down, everything fading around me. There was only Mason–that ghostly, shimmering Mason who glowed in the dark and seemed like he so badly wanted to tell me something.**

_And I finally found out what it was_, I thought sadly.

**The same feeling of helplessness I'd experienced in Spokane returned to me. I hadn't been able to help him then. I couldn't help him now. My stomach turned cold and hollow. I could do nothing except stand there, wondering what he was trying to say.**

**He lifted one translucent hand and pointed off toward the other side of campus, but I didn't know what it meant.**

I thought of the attack. I guess that's what he was trying to say.

**There was so much over there, and it wasn't clear what he was pointing at. I shook my head, not understanding but desperately wishing I could. The sorrow on his face seemed to grow.**

**Suddenly, something slammed into my shoulder, and I stumbled forward. The world suddenly started up again, snapping me out of the dreamy state I'd just been in. I only barely managed to throw out my hands in time to stop myself from hitting the ground. I looked up and saw Stan standing over me. "Hathaway!" he barked. "What are you doing?" I blinked, still trying to shake off the weirdness of seeing Mason again. I felt sluggish and dazed. I looked into Stan's angry face and then glanced over at where Mason had been. He was gone. I turned my attention back to Stan and realized what had happened. In my distraction, I'd completely spaced while he'd staged his attack. He now had one arm around Christian's neck and one around Brandon's. He wasn't hurting them, but his point was made.**

I took a mental deep breath.

**"If I had been a Strigoi," he growled, "these two would be dead."**

"That's the end of the chapter," Christian announced. "Who's turn is it?"

"I'll read," Tasha said, taking the book from her nephew. "**Chapter five**."

* * *

**Thank you to those whom of which told me about the non-bolding. I found other mistakes (spelling, punctuation, etc.) that were on this document but not on my Microsoft Word document. Thank you again.**


	8. Chapter 5

**Hey, everybody :) Here's the next chapter. But before you read, I have a few things to say:**

**One: I have a poll on my profile, so go and check it out.**

**Two: It has come to my attention that this story is in the "Reportable offense!" community. This community is for 'rule breaking fics for reviewing and reporting.' Why it is in there, I'm not sure; but I'm not doing anything wrong. This and my other story "Ways to Piss Off Adrian" is in there as well, but no others are. If anybody has any idea why they are in this community, please PM me ASAP.**

**Thank you and enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

Third Person pov

"**Chapter five**."

**Most disciplinary issues at the Academy went to Headmistress Kirova. She oversaw Moroi and dhampirs alike and was known for her creative and oft-used repertoire of punishments. She wasn't cruel, exactly, but she wasn't soft, either. She simply took student behavior seriously and dealt with it as she saw fit.**

**There were some issues, however, that were beyond her jurisdiction.**

Rose scowled. _I was wrongly accused_, she thought.

**The school's guardians calling together a disciplinary committee wasn't unheard of, but it was very, very rare. You had to do something pretty serious to piss them off to get that sort of response. Like, say, willfully endangering a Moroi. Or hypothetically willfully endangering a Moroi.**

Alberta nodded. "We take that pretty seriously."

**"For the last time," I growled, "I didn't do it on purpose."**

"And we were supposed to believe you at that point in time?" asked Alberta.

Rose nodded. "Uh, yeah."

**I sat in one of the guardians' meeting rooms, facing my committee: Alberta, Emil, and one of the other rare female guardians on campus, Celeste. They sat at a long table, looking imposing, while I sat in a single chair and felt very vulnerable. Several other guardians were sitting in and watching, but thankfully, none of my classmates were there to see this humiliation. Dimitri was among the watchers. He was not on the committee, and I wondered if they'd kept him off because of his potentially biased role as my mentor.**

Alberta nodded in confirmation.

**"Miss Hathaway," said Alberta, fully in her strict-captain mode, "you must know why we have a hard time believing that."**

**Celeste nodded. "Guardian Alto saw you. You refused to protect two Moroi–including the one whose protection you were specifically assigned to."**

_I didn't refuse_, Rose thought bitterly.

**"I didn't refuse!" I exclaimed. "I…fumbled."**

**"That wasn't a fumble," said Stan from the watchers. He glanced at Alberta for permission to speak. "May I?" She nodded, and he turned back to me. "If you'd blocked or attacked me and then messed up, that would be a fumble. But you didn't block. You didn't attack. You didn't even try. You just stood there like a statue and did nothing."**

**Understandably, I was outraged. The thought that I would purposely leave Christian and Brandon to be "killed" by a Strigoi was ridiculous. But what could I do? I either confessed to screwing up majorly or to having seen a ghost. Neither option was appealing, but I had to cut my losses. One made me look incompetent. The other made me look insane. I didn't want to be associated with either of those. I much preferred my usual description of "reckless" and "disruptive."**

**"Why am I getting in trouble for messing up?"**

"Oh boy," Janine muttered. _This isn't going to end well_, she thought.

**I asked tightly. "I mean, I saw Ryan mess up earlier. He didn't get in trouble. Isn't that the point of this whole exercise? Practice? If we were perfect, you'd already have unleashed us upon the world!"**

**"Weren't you listening?" said Stan. I swore I could see a vein throbbing in his forehead. I think he was the only one there as upset as I was. At the very least, he was the only one (aside from me) showing his emotions. The others wore poker faces, but then, none of them had witnessed what had happened. If I'd been in Stan's place, I might have thought the worst of me too. "You didn't mess up, because 'messing up' implies that you have to actually do something."**

**"Okay, then. I froze." I looked at him defiantly. "Does that count as messing up? I cracked under the pressure and blanked out. It turns out I wasn't prepared. The moment came, and I panicked. It happens to novices all the time."**

**"To a novice who has already killed Strigoi?" asked Emil. He was from Romania, his accent a bit thicker than Dimitri's Russian one. It wasn't nearly as nice, though.**

Dimitri _almost_ smirked.

**"It seems unlikely."**

**I dealt out glares to him and everyone else in the room. "Oh, I see. After one incident, I'm now expected to be an expert Strigoi killer? I can't panic or be afraid or anything? Makes sense. Thanks, guys. Fair. Real fair." I slumped back in my seat, arms crossed over my chest. There was no need to fake bitchy defiance. I had plenty of it to dish out.**

_This isn't going to end well_, Janine thought.

**Alberta sighed and leaned forward. "We're arguing semantics. Technicalities aren't the point here. What's important is that this morning, you made it very clear you did not want to guard Christian Ozera. In fact…I think you even said you wanted us to be sure we knew that you were doing it against your will and that we'd soon see what a horrible idea it was." Ugh. I had said that. Honestly, what had I been thinking?**

"You weren't," Christian scoffed.

**"And then, when your first test comes around, we find you completely and utterly unresponsive."**

**I nearly flew out of my chair. "That's what this is about? You think I didn't protect him because of some kind of weird revenge thing?"**

**All three of them stared at me expectantly.**

**"You aren't exactly known for calmly and gracefully accepting things you don't like," she replied wryly.**

**This time, I did stand up, pointing my finger at her accusingly. "Not true. I have followed every rule Kirova laid down for me since coming back here. I've gone to every practice and obeyed every curfew." Well, I'd fudged some of the curfews but not willfully. It had always been for the greater good. "There's no reason I'd do this as some kind of revenge! What good would it do? Sta–Guardian Alto wasn't going to really hurt Christian, so it's not like I'd get to see him punched or anything. The only thing I would accomplish is getting dragged into the middle of something like this and possibly facing removal from the field experience."**

**"You are facing removal from the field experience," replied Celeste flatly.**

**"Oh." I sat down, suddenly not feeling as bold.**

_Please don't let that happen_, Abe wished.

**Silence hung in the room for several moments, and then I heard Dimitri's voice speak from behind me.**

**"She has a point," he said. My heart thumped loudly in my chest. Dimitri knew I wouldn't take revenge like that. He didn't think I was petty.**

Dimitri nodded.

**"If she were going to protest or take revenge, she'd do it in a different way." Well, not too petty, at least.**

**Celeste frowned. "Yes, but after the scene she made this morning…"**

**Dimitri took a few steps forward and stood beside my chair. Having his solid presence nearby comforted me. I had a flash of déjá vu, back to when Lissa and I had returned to the Academy last autumn. Headmistress Kirova had nearly expelled me, and Dimitri had stood up for me then too.**

_Now I know why_, Rose thought, mentally smiling.

**"This is all circumstantial," he said. "Regardless of how suspicious you think it looks, there's no proof. Removing her from the experience–and essentially ruining her graduation–is a bit extreme without any certainties."**

**The committee looked thoughtful, and I focused my attention on Alberta. She had the most power here. I'd always liked her, and in our time together, she'd been strict but always scrupulously fair. I hoped that would still hold true. She beckoned Celeste and Emil toward her, and the other two guardians leaned closer. They had a whispered conference. Alberta gave a resigned nod, and the others leaned back.**

**"Miss Hathaway, do you have anything you'd like to say before we tell you our conclusions?"**

**That I'd like to say? Hell, yeah. There were tons of things. I wanted to say that I wasn't incompetent. I wanted to tell them that I was one of the best novices here. I wanted to tell them that I had seen Stan coming and had been on the verge of reacting. I especially wanted to tell them that I didn't want to have this mark on my record. Even if I stayed in the field experience, I'd essentially have an F for this first test. It would affect my overall grade, which could subsequently affect my future.**

**But again, what choice did I have? Tell them that I'd seen a ghost? The ghost of a guy who'd had a major crush on me and who had quite likely died because of that crush? I still didn't know what was going on with these sightings. One time I could write off to exhaustion…but I'd seen him–or it–twice now.**

_She should've seen him at all_, Janine wondered. _What happened?_ She then thought of the Strigoi attack at the school and answered her own question.

**Was he real? My higher reasoning said no, but honestly, it didn't matter at the moment. If he was real and I told them, they'd think I was crazy. If he wasn't real and I told them, they'd think I was crazy–and they'd be right. I couldn't win here.**

**"No, Guardian Petrov," I said, hoping I sounded meek. "Nothing more to add."**

_At least she didn't say anything_, Janine thought.

**"All right," she said wearily. "Here's what we've decided. You're lucky you have Guardian Belikov to advocate for you, or this decision might have been different. We're giving you the benefit of the doubt. You'll go on with the field experience and continue to guard Mr. Ozera. You'll just be on a probation of sorts."**

**"That's okay," I said. I'd been on probation for most of my academic life. "Thank you."**

**"And," she added. Uh-oh. "Because the suspicion isn't entirely removed, you'll be spending your day off this week doing community service."**

**I jumped out of my chair again. "What?"**

**Dimitri's hand wrapped around my wrist, his fingers warm and controlling. "Sit down," he murmured in my ear, tugging me toward the chair. "Take what you can get."**

**"If that's a problem, we can make it next week too," warned Celeste. "And the next five after that."**

**I sat down and shook my head. "I'm sorry. Thank you."**

**The hearing dispersed, and I was left feeling weary and beaten. Had only one day gone by? Surely the happy excitement I'd felt before the field experience had been weeks ago and not this morning. Alberta told me to go find Christian, but Dimitri asked if he could have some time alone with me. She agreed, no doubt hoping he'd set me on the straight and narrow.**

_He most likely didn't_, Abe thought bitterly.

**The room emptied, and I thought he'd sit and talk to me then and there, but instead he walked over to a small table that held a water dispenser, coffee, and other beverages.**

**"You want some hot chocolate?" he asked.**

**I hadn't expected that. "Sure."**

**He dumped four packets of instant hot chocolate into two Styrofoam cups and then added in hot water.**

**"Doubling it is the secret," he said when the cups were full.**

**He handed me mine, along with a wooden stirrer, and then walked toward a side door. Presuming I was supposed to follow him, I scurried to catch up without spilling my hot chocolate.**

**"Where are we–oh."**

**I stepped through the doorway and found myself in a little glass-enclosed porch filled with small patio tables. I'd had no idea this porch was adjacent to the meeting room, but then, this was the building the guardians conducted all campus business out of. Novices were rarely allowed.**

"'Rarely' being the keyword," Alberta muttered.

**I also hadn't realized the building was built around a small courtyard, which was what this porch looked out to. In the summer, I imagined one could open the windows and be surrounded in greenery and warm air. Now, encased in glass and frost, I felt like I was in some kind of an ice palace.**

**Dimitri swept his hand over a chair, brushing off dust. I did the same and sat down opposite him. Apparently this room didn't see a lot of use in the winter. Because it was enclosed, the room was warmer than outdoors, but it wasn't heated otherwise. The air felt chilly, and I warmed my hands on my cup. Silence fell between Dimitri and me. The only noise came from me blowing on my hot chocolate. He drank his right away. He'd been killing Strigoi for years. What was a little scalding water here and there?**

Dimitri chuckled.

**As we sat, and the quiet grew, I studied him over the edge of my cup. He wasn't looking at me, but I knew he knew I was watching. Like every other time I looked at him, I was always struck by his looks first. The soft dark hair that he often tucked behind his ears without realizing it, hair that never quite wanted to stay in its tie at the back of his neck. His eyes were brown too, somehow gentle and fierce at the same time. His lips had that same contradictory quality, I realized. When he was fighting or dealing with something grim, those lips would flatten and turn hard. But in lighter times…when he laughed or kissed…well, then they'd become soft and wonderful.**

**Today, more than his exterior hit me. I felt warm and safe just being with him. He brought comfort after my terrible day. So often with other people, I felt a need to be the center of attention, to be funny and always have something clever to say. It was a habit I needed to shake to be a guardian, seeing as that job required so much silence. But with Dimitri, I never felt like I had to be anything more than what I already was.**

Everyone smiled at that. Dimitri leaned over and kissed Rose. When they pulled away, everyone was giving them a smile thinking how cute they were together. Abe, on the other hand, may have been smiling, but he was thinking: _"He hurts my daughter, I swear to God, he will _not_ live to see his next birthday."_

**I didn't have to entertain him or think up jokes or even flirt. It was enough to just be together, to be so completely comfortable in each other's presence–smoldering sexual tension aside–that we lost all sense of self-consciousness. I exhaled and drank my cocoa.**

**"What happened out there?" he asked at last, meeting my gaze. "You didn't crack under the pressure."**

**His voice was curious, not accusatory. He wasn't treating me as a student right now, I realized. He was regarding me as an equal. He simply wanted to know what was going on with me. There was no discipline or lecturing here.**

**And that just made it all the worse when I had to lie to him.**

"You should never have to lie to me, Roza," Dimitri whispered to her, pain evident in his voice.

She shook her head. "Never again, Comrade."

**"Of course it was," I told him, looking down into my cup. "Unless you believe I really did let Stan 'attack' Christian."**

**"No," he said. "I don't believe that. I never did. I knew you'd be unhappy when you found out about the assignments, but I never once doubted that you'd do what you'd have to for this. I knew you wouldn't let your personal feelings get in the way of your duty."**

Rose nodded. "Never." She looked at Lissa in her peripheral and thought, _She's my life. Never will she have to suffer physical pain again._

**I looked up again and met his eyes, so full of faith and absolute confidence in me. "I didn't. I was mad…Still am a little. But once I said I'd do it, I meant it. And after spending some time with him…well, I don't hate him. I actually think he's good for Lissa,**

Christian stared at me in shock.

"Shut your trap, Sparky," I snapped, "before you get flies in your mouth."

**and he cares about her, so I can't get upset about that. He and I just clash sometimes, that's all…but we did really well together against the Strigoi. I remembered that while I was with him today, and arguing against this assignment just seemed stupid. So I decided to do the best job I could." I hadn't meant to talk so much, but it felt good to let out what was inside of me, and the look on Dimitri's face would have gotten me to say anything. Almost anything.**

**"What happened then?" he asked. "With Stan?" I averted my eyes and played with my cup again. I hated keeping things from him, but I couldn't tell him about this. In the human world, vampires and dhampirs were creatures of myth and legend–bedtime stories to scare children. Humans didn't know we were real and walking the earth. But just because we were real didn't mean that every other story-time paranormal creature was. We knew that and had our own myths and bedtime stories about things we didn't believe in. Werewolves. Bogeymen. Ghosts.**

**Ghosts played no real role in our culture, short of being fodder for pranks and campfire tales. Ghosts inevitably came up on Halloween, and some legends endured over the years. But in real life? No ghosts. If you came back after death, it was because you were a Strigoi.**

**At least, that's what I'd always been taught. I honestly didn't know enough now to say what was going on. Me imagining Mason seemed more likely than him being a true ghost,**

Rose almost internally broke down crying. She missed Mason so much.

**but man, that meant I might seriously be heading into crazy territory. All this time I'd worried about Lissa losing it. Who had known it might be me?**

**Dimitri was still watching me, waiting for an answer.**

**"I don't know what happened out there. My intentions were good…I just…I just messed up."**

**"Rose. You're a terrible liar."**

**I glanced up. "No, I'm not. I've told a lot of good lies in my life. People have believed them."**

**He smiled slightly. "I'm sure. But it doesn't work with me.**

"Burned!" Eddie exclaimed.

**For one thing, you won't look me in the eye. As for the other…I don't know. I can just tell."**

**Damn. He could tell. He just knew me that well. I stood up and moved to the door, keeping my back to him. Normally, I treasured every minute with him, but I couldn't stick around today. I hated lying, but I didn't want to tell the truth either. I had to leave.**

**"Look, I appreciate you being worried about me…but really, it's okay. I just messed up. I'm embarrassed about it–and sorry I put your awesome training to shame–**

"You didn't," Dimitri assured her.

**but I'll rebound. Next time, Stan's ass is mine."**

**I hadn't even heard him get up, but suddenly, Dimitri was right behind me. He placed a hand on my shoulder, and I froze in front of the door leading out. He didn't touch me anywhere else. He didn't try to pull me closer. But, oh, that one hand on my shoulder held all the power in the world.**

**"Rose," he said, and I knew he was no longer smiling. "I don't know why you're lying, but I know you wouldn't do it without a good reason. And if there's something wrong–something you're afraid to tell the others–"**

**I spun around rapidly, somehow managing to pivot in place in such a way that his hand never moved yet ended up on my other shoulder.**

**"I'm not afraid," I cried. "I do have my reasons, and believe me, what happened with Stan was nothing. Really. All of this is just something stupid that got blown out of proportion. Don't feel sorry for me or feel like you have to do anything. What happened sucks, but I'll just roll with it and take the black mark. I'll take care of everything. I'll take care of me." It took all of my strength just then not to shake. How had this day gotten so bizarre and out of control?**

**Dimitri didn't say anything. He just looked down at me, and the expression on his face was one I'd never seen before. I couldn't interpret it. Was he mad? Disapproving? I just couldn't tell. The fingers on my shoulder tightened slightly and then relaxed.**

**"You don't have to do this alone," he said at last.**

"You can always come to me for anything," Dimitri whispered to Rose.

**He sounded almost wistful, which made no sense. He was the one who'd been telling me for so long that I needed to be strong. I wanted to throw myself into his arms just then, but I knew I couldn't.**

**I couldn't help a smile. "You say that…but tell me the truth. Do you go running to others when you have problems?"**

**"That's the not the same–"**

**"Answer the question, comrade."**

**"Don't call me that."**

**"And don't avoid the question either."**

**"No," he said. "I try to deal with my problems on my own."**

_They're as one_, Olena thought, mentally smiling.

**I slipped away from his hand. "See?"**

**"But you have a lot of people in your life you can trust, people who care about you. That changes things."**

**I looked at him in surprise. "You don't have people who care about you?"**

**He frowned, obviously rethinking his words. "Well, I've always had good people in my life…and there have been people who cared about me. But that doesn't necessarily mean I could trust them or tell them everything."**

_Exactly_, Rose thought.

**I was often so distracted by the weirdness of our relationship that I rarely thought about Dimitri as someone with a life away from me. He was respected by everyone on campus. Teachers and students alike knew him as one of the deadliest guardians here. Whenever we ran into guardians from outside the school, they always seemed to know and respect him too. But I couldn't recall ever having seen him in any sort of social setting. He didn't appear to have any close friends among the other guardians–just coworkers he liked. The friendliest I'd ever seen him get with someone had been when Christian's aunt, Tasha Ozera,**

Dimitri flinched.

**visited. They'd known each other for a long time, but even that hadn't been enough for Dimitri to pursue once her visit was over.**

**Dimitri was alone an awful lot, I realized, content to hole up with his cowboy novels when not working. I felt alone a lot, but in truth, I was almost always surrounded by people. With him being my teacher, I tended to view things as one-sided: He was the one always giving me something, be it advice or instruction. But I gave him something too, something harder to define–a connection with another person.**

**"Do you trust me?" I asked him.**

**The hesitation was brief. "Yes."**

**"Then trust me now, and don't worry about me just this once."**

**I stepped away, out of the reach of his arm, and he didn't say anything more or try to stop me. Cutting through the room that I'd had the hearing in, I headed for the building's main exit, tossing the remnants of my hot chocolate in a garbage can as I walked past.**

"That's the end of the chapter," Tasha stated. "Who's next?"

"I will," Viktoria said, cautiously taking the book from her. "**Chapter six**."


	9. I'm so sorry, guys

**I know this is not an update, but I was reading a review and I just wanted to let you all know that a chapter ****_IS_****on the way. I'm so sorry that I'm not really updating this story (or any, really) and I'm sorry for that. This summer has definitely not gone as planned and school starts back up a week from this Monday.**

**To all my readers: thank you for being so faithful in staying with me. I know that I've been a horrible author lately, but I'll make it up to you guys, I promise. I'm definitely going to be keeping this promise to you guys.**

**For the last three weeks, I've been away at college camps (Morgan State University, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and Salisbury University). I have been writing and I should be updating sometime in the next week. CHAPTERS WILL BE COMING SHORTLY!**

**As far as non-consistent updating goes: I'm sorry for that. I don't have set dates on when I'm going to update. I just update whenever I can or as soon as I finish a chapter.**

**As I've stated, I'm so sorry and I'll be updating shortly. Please stick with me.**

** -Steph**


	10. Chapter 6

**Here's the new chapter. Please read and review. Enjoy :)**

**Oh, and don't forget to vote on my poll :)**

* * *

Third person's pov

"**Chapter six**."

**There had only been three other witnesses to what had happened out on the quad. Yet, unsurprisingly, everyone seemed to know about it when I returned to the commons later on. Classes were done, but plenty of students moved about in the corridors, off to study or retake tests or whatever. They tried to hide their glances and whispers, but they didn't do a very good job. Those who made eye contact with me either gave me tight-lipped smiles or immediately looked away. Wonderful.**

**With no psychic link to Christian, I had no clue where to find him.**

"How could you not find him?" Adrian asked. "He's almost always with Lissa."

**I could sense that Lissa was in the library and figured that would be a good place to start looking. On my way there, I heard a guy's voice call out behind me.**

**"Took things a bit far, didn't you?"**

**I turned around and saw Ryan and Camille walking several steps back. If I'd been a guy, the appropriate response would have been, "You mean with your mom?"**

Dimitri scoffed and shook his head.

**Because I was not a guy, though, and because I had manners,**

Everyone minus Rose snickered at that.

"Thanks for the support, guys," Rose said under her breath.

"No problem, babe," Dimitri whispered in her ear.

Rose smiled at him, leaning her head on his shoulder.

**I just said, "Don't know what you're talking about."**

**Ryan hurried to catch up with me. "You know exactly what I mean. With Christian. I heard that when Stan attacked, you were just like, 'Here, take him,' and walked away."**

**"Oh good God," I groaned. It was bad enough when everyone was talking about you, but why did the stories always end up changing? "That is not what happened."**

**"Oh yeah?" he asked. "Then why did you get called in to see Alberta?"**

**"Look," I said, not feeling so well mannered anymore, "I just messed up the attack…you know, kind of like you did earlier when you weren't paying attention in the hall?"**

**"Hey," he said, flushing slightly. "I ended up getting in on that–I did my part."**

**"Is that what they're calling getting killed nowadays?"**

_Burned_, Eddie thought.

**"At least I wasn't a whiny bitch who refused to fight."**

**I had just about calmed down after speaking with Dimitri, but now my temper was rising already. It was like a thermometer ready to burst. "You know, maybe instead of criticizing others, you should pay more attention to your own guardian duties." I nodded toward Camille. She had thus far been quiet, but her face showed me she was eating all of this up.**

**Ryan shrugged. "I can do both. Shane's farther behind us, and the area ahead is clear. No doors. Easy." He patted Camille's shoulder. "She's safe."**

**"It's an easy place to secure. You wouldn't do so well in the real world with real Strigoi."**

**His smile faded. Anger glinted in his eyes. "Right. The way I hear it, you didn't do such a great job out there either, at least not as far as Mason was concerned."**

"Oh!" Eddie exclaimed. "We did _NOT_ just go there!" He pushed his sleeves up, as he was wearing a long-sleeved shirt. "Where's that little punk at?!"

Rose got up and went over to Eddie. "Ed, calm down."

"No! Mason made his own choices. He chose to go back. You didn't make him."

Rose looked him in the eyes. "Ed. Please. For my sake. Calm down."

Eddie took a deep breath before nodding. "Only for you, Rosey-poo."

_He's so lucky that I'm letting him get away with calling me that_, Rose thought as she went back to her seat next to Dimitri.

**Taunting over what had happened with Stan and Christian was one thing. But implying that I was at fault for Mason's death? Unacceptable. I was the one who'd kept Lissa safe for two years in the human world. I was the one who had killed two Strigoi in Spokane. I was the only novice at this school with molnija marks, the little tattoos given to guardians to mark Strigoi kills. I'd known there had been some whispers about what had happened to Mason, but no one had ever actually said anything to me. The thought of Ryan or anyone else thinking I was to blame for Mason dying was too much. I blamed myself plenty enough already without their help.**

**The thermometer broke.**

_About time_, Janine thought.

**In one smooth motion, I reached past him, grabbed Camille, and swung her up against the wall. I hadn't thrown her hard enough to hurt her, but she was clearly startled. Her eyes widened in shock, and I used my forearm to pin her, pressing it against her throat.**

**"What are you doing?"**

"My exact question," Alberta said, looking pointedly at Rose.

Rose hid her face into Dimitri's shoulder. Dimitri, being the most amazing boyfriend he is, patted her back in semblance.

**exclaimed Ryan, peering back and forth between our faces. I shifted my stance slightly, still keeping the pressure on Camille.**

**"Furthering your education,"**

Alberta shook her head, but didn't say anything.

**I said pleasantly. "Sometimes places aren't as easy to secure as you think."**

"'Tis true," Janine admitted.

**"You're crazy! You can't hurt a Moroi. If the guardians find out–"**

**"I'm not," I argued. I glanced toward her. "Am I hurting you? Are you in extreme pain?"**

**There was a hesitation; then she gave as much of a shake of her head as she could manage.**

**"Are you uncomfortable?"**

**A small nod.**

**"See?" I told Ryan. "Discomfort isn't the same thing as pain."**

"That's true as well," Janine added.

**"You're insane. Let her go."**

**"I'm not done, Ry. Pay attention because here's the point: Danger can come from anywhere. Not just Strigoi–or guardians dressed up like Strigoi. Keep acting like an arrogant asshole who thinks he knows everything"–I pressed my arm in a little harder, still not enough to affect her breathing or cause real pain–"and you miss things. And those things can kill your Moroi."**

**"Okay, okay. Whatever. Please, stop it," he said. His voice wavered. There was no more attitude. "You're scaring her."**

**"I'd be scared too, if my life was in your hands."**

All of the Moroi nodded their heads in agreement with that statement.

**The scent of cloves alerted me to Adrian's presence. I also knew that Shane and a few others had come to watch. The other novices looked uncertain, like they wanted to pry me off but were afraid of getting Camille hurt. I knew I should let her go, but Ryan had just made me so angry. I needed to prove a point to him. I needed to get him back. And really, I didn't even feel sorry for Camille either since I was sure she'd done her fair share of gossiping about me too.**

**"This is fascinating," said Adrian, his voice as lazy as usual. "But I think you've made your point."**

"Finally someone steps in," Alberta muttered to herself.

**"I don't know," I said. The tone of my voice managed to be both sweet and menacing at the same time. "I still don't think Ryan gets it."**

**"For God's sake, Rose! I get it," cried Ryan. "Just let her go."**

**Adrian moved around me, going over to stand beside Camille. She and I were pressed close together, but he managed to squeeze in so that his face was in my line of sight, almost beside hers. He wore that goofy smirk he normally had, but there was something serious in his dark green eyes.**

**"Yes, little dhampir. Let her go. You're done here."**

**I wanted to tell Adrian to get away from me, that I would be the one to say when this was finished. Somehow, I couldn't get the words out. A part of me was enraged at his interference. The other part of me thought he sounded…reasonable.**

"Compulsion," Janine gasped, glaring at Adrian.

Adrian just shrugged, feeling a little uncomfortable under her gaze.

**"Let her go," he repeated.**

**My eyes were all over Adrian now, not Camille. Suddenly, all of me decided he sounded reasonable. Completely reasonable. I needed to let her go. I moved my arm and stepped away. With a gulp, Camille darted behind Ryan, using him like a shield. I saw now that she was on the verge of tears. Ryan simply looked stunned.**

**Adrian straightened up and made a dismissive gesture toward Ryan. "I'd get out of here–before you really annoy Rose."**

**Ryan, Camille, and the others slowly backed off from us. Adrian put his arm around me and hurried me away toward the library. I felt weird, kind of like I was waking up, but then, with each step, things grew clearer and clearer. I pushed his arm off me and jerked away.**

**"You just used compulsion on me!"**

Janine, Abe, and Dimitri glared at Adrian.

"It was for the best," Adrian reasoned with them.

**I exclaimed. "You made me let her go."**

**"Someone needed to. You looked like you were seconds away from strangling her."**

**"I wasn't. And I wouldn't have." I pushed open the library door. "You had no right to do that to me. No right at all." Compulsion–making people do what you wanted–was a skill all vampires had to a very small degree. Using it was considered immoral, and most couldn't control it well enough to do any real damage. Spirit strengthened the ability, however, making both Adrian and Lissa very dangerous.**

Janine looked at Lissa. "She doesn't look like she could hurt a fly."

Rose rolled her eyes, raising her eyebrows. "You have no idea what she's capable of." She thought back to when Lissa got a hold of Jesse and shuddered.

**"And you had no right to tackle some poor girl in the hall just to soothe your own hurt pride."**

**"Ryan had no right to say those things."**

**"I don't even know what 'those things' are, but unless I've misjudged your age, you're too old to be throwing a tantrum over idle gossip."**

**"Throwing a–"**

**My words fell short as we reached Lissa working at a table. Her face and feelings told me trouble was coming.**

"Your face was hilarious at that moment," Eddie chuckled.

Rose shook her head, smiling slightly.

**Eddie stood a couple feet away from her, leaning against a wall and watching the room. His eyes widened when he saw me, but he didn't say anything at my approach.**

**I slid into the chair opposite Lissa.**

**"Hey."**

**She looked up and sighed, then returned her attention to the textbook open in front of her. "I wondered when you'd turn up," she said. "Did you get suspended?"**

**Her words were calm and polite, but I could read her underlying feelings. Annoyed. Even a little angry.**

Everyone minus Rose looked at Lissa with wide eyes.

_Didn't know she had it in her to be angry_, Abe thought bitterly.

**"Not this time," I said. "Just got stuck with community service."**

**She said nothing, but the irate mood I sensed through the bond remained unchanged.**

**Now I sighed. "Okay, talk to me, Liss. I know you're mad."**

**Adrian looked at me, then her, and then me again. "I feel like I'm missing something here."**

**"Oh, great," I said. "You went and busted up my fight and didn't even know what it was about."**

**"Fight?" asked Lissa, confusion joining her anger.**

**"What happened?" repeated Adrian.**

**I nodded to Lissa. "Go ahead, tell him."**

**"Rose got tested earlier and refused to protect Christian." She shook her head, exasperated, and fixed me with an accusatory glare. "I can't believe you're seriously still mad enough to do something like that to him. It's childish."**

**Lissa had jumped to the same conclusions as the guardians. I sighed. "I didn't do it on purpose!**

"Exactly!" I exclaimed to book-Lissa.

**I just sat through a whole hearing on this crap and told them the same thing."**

**"Then what happened?" she demanded. "Why did you do it?"**

**I hesitated, unsure what to say. My reluctance to talk didn't even have anything to do with Adrian and Eddie overhearing–though I certainly didn't want them to. The problem was more complex.**

**Dimitri had been right–there were people I could trust, and two of them I trusted unconditionally: him and Lissa. I'd already held back from telling him the truth. Would I–could I–do the same with her? Although she was mad, I knew without a doubt that Lissa would always support me and be there for me. But just like with Dimitri, I balked at the idea of telling my ghost story. Also just like with Dimitri, it left me in the same bind: crazy or incompetent?**

**Through our bond, I felt her mind, pure and clear. There was no taint, no darkness, or sign of madness–and yet, something tingled in the background. A slight stirring. Antidepressants took awhile to fully get into and out of one's system, but her magic was already waking up after one day. I thought back to my ghostly encounters, dredging up the memory of that sad, translucent Mason. How could I even begin to explain that to her? How could I bring up something as weird and fantastic as that when she'd been trying so hard to get a little normality in her life and now faced the challenge of getting her magic under control?**

**No, I realized. I couldn't tell her.**

Lissa whimpered in hurt.

Rose took Lissa in her arms, hugging her tightly. "You know that will never happen again, Liss. Never again will I keep things from you."

Lissa hugged her back equally as tightly. "I know, Rose. I know."

**Not yet–especially when it suddenly occurred to me that there was still something else big I needed to let her know about.**

**"I froze," I said finally. "It's stupid. I'd been so cocky about being able to take out anyone, and then Stan…" I shrugged. "I don't know. I just couldn't react. It…it's really embarrassing. And him of all people."**

**Lissa studied me intently, looking for any sign of dishonesty. It hurt to think that she'd mistrust me, except…well, I was actually lying.**

Lissa was hurt even more. Rose tightened her hug with Lissa.

**As I'd told Dimitri, though, I could be a good liar when I wanted to be. Lissa couldn't tell.**

**"I wish I could read your mind," she mused.**

**"Come on," I said. "You know me. Do you really think I'd do this? Abandon Christian and make myself look stupid on purpose just to get back at my teachers?"**

"Yes," Christian muttered.

**"No," she said finally. "You'd probably do it in a way where you wouldn't get caught."**

**"Dimitri said the same thing," I grumbled. "I'm glad everyone has so much faith in me."**

**"We do," she countered. "That's why all of this is so weird."**

**"Even I make mistakes." I put on my brash, overconfident face. "I know it's hard to believe–kind of surprises me myself–but I guess it has to happen. It's probably some kind of karmic way to balance out the universe. Otherwise, it wouldn't be fair to have one person so full of awesomeness."**

"Narcissistic much?" Sydney joked.

**Adrian, blessedly silent for a change, was watching the two of us talk, much as one would look back and forth at a tennis match. His eyes were narrowed slightly, and I suspected he was studying our auras.**

**Lissa rolled her eyes, but fortunately, the anger I'd felt earlier lightened. She believed me. Her gaze then lifted from my face to someone beyond me. I felt the happy, golden emotions that signaled Christian's presence.**

**"My loyal bodyguard returns," he declared, pulling up a chair. He glanced at Lissa. "Are you done yet?"**

**"Done with what?" she asked.**

**He inclined his head toward me. "Giving her a hard time about how she threw me into the deadly clutches of Alto."**

"Caught!" Mia exclaimed, chuckling.

**Lissa blushed. She was already feeling a little bad about jumping on me, now that I'd defended myself sufficiently. Christian's flippant, knowing observation just made her feel more foolish.**

**"We were just talking about it, that's all."**

**Adrian yawned and slouched back in his chair. "Actually, I think I've figured it all out. This was a scam, wasn't it? A scam to scare me off since I'm always talking about you being my guardian. You thought if you pretended to be a bad guardian, I wouldn't want you. Well, it's not going to work, so there's no point in risking anyone else's life."**

**I was grateful he didn't mention the incident in the hall. Ryan had absolutely been out of line, but as more time passed, it became harder and harder for me to believe I'd snapped like that. It was like something that had happened to someone else, something that I'd simply been watching. Of course, I seemed to be snapping over everything lately. I'd been mad about getting Christian, mad about the guardians' accusation, mad about–**

**Oh, right. It was probably time for me to drop the bomb.**

Lissa glared at the book.

**"So, um…there's something you guys should know."**

**Four sets of eyes–even Eddie's–turned to me.**

**"What's wrong?" asked Lissa.**

**There was really no easy way to tell them, so I just pushed forward. "Well, it turns out that Victor Dashkov was never found guilty of what he did to us. He's just been locked up. But they're finally going to have an official trial–in another week or so."**

**Lissa's reaction to hearing his name was similar to mine.**

_Of course it would be_, Lissa thought bitterly.

**Shock shot through the bond, followed immediately by fear. A slide show of images flashed through her mind. The way Victor's sick game had made her question her sanity. The torture his henchman had subjected her to. The bloody state she'd found Christian in after he'd been attacked by Victor's hounds. She clenched her fists on the table, knuckles going white. Christian couldn't sense her reaction the way I could, but he didn't need to. He moved his hand over hers. She barely noticed.**

**"But…but…" She took a deep, steadying breath, fighting to stay calm. "How could he not be guilty already? Everyone knows…They all saw…"**

**"It's the law. They supposedly have to give him a fighting chance."**

**There was confusion all over her, and slowly, she came to the same realization that I had last night with Dimitri. "So…wait…are you saying there's a chance they might not find him guilty?"**

Rose nodded solemnly.

**I looked into her wide, frightened eyes and couldn't bring myself to tell her. Apparently, my face said it all.**

**Christian slammed his fist against the table. "This is bullshit." Several people at other tables glanced over at his outburst.**

**"This is politics," said Adrian. "People in power never have to play by the same rules."**

**"But he nearly killed Rose and Christian!" cried Lissa. "And he kidnapped me! How can there be any question?"**

**Lissa's emotions were all over the place. Fear. Sorrow. Anger. Outrage. Confusion. Helplessness. I didn't want her delving into those dark feelings and hoped desperately that she'd grow calm again. Slowly, steadily, she did–but then I started getting angry again. It was like Ryan all over.**

**"It's a formality, I'm sure," said Adrian. "When all the evidence is in, there probably isn't going to be much of a debate."**

**"That's the thing," I said bitterly. "They're not going to have all the evidence. We aren't allowed to go."**

**"What?" exclaimed Christian. "Then who's testifying?"**

"Us," Alberta answered the book.

**"The other guardians who were there. We apparently can't be trusted to keep the whole thing quiet. The queen doesn't want the world to know that one of her precious royals might have done something wrong."**

**Lissa didn't seem to take offense at me trashing royals. "But we're the reason he's on trial."**

**Christian stood up, glancing around as though Victor might be in the library. "I'm going to go take care of this right now."**

**"Sure," said Adrian. "I bet going in there and kicking down the door will change their minds. Take Rose with you, and you guys'll make a really good impression."**

**"Yeah?" asked Christian, clenching the back of his chair and fixing Adrian with a stormy glare.**

"One that didn't faze me," Adrian said snootily to Christian.

Christian 'hmp'ed but didn't answer.

**"You have a better idea?"**

**Lissa's calmness began to waver again. "If Victor was free, would he come after us again?"**

**"If he gets loose again, he won't stay that way for long," I said. "I'll make sure of it."**

Rose shuddered at her own words. She still couldn't believe her lapse in control. She blamed herself for Victor's death.

Dimitri, sensing her demise, put a comforting arm around her, making sure that she felt his reassurance, and that he would always be there for her no matter what they went through.

Rose smiled at him, kissing him.

**"Careful there," said Adrian. He seemed to find all of this funny. "Even you couldn't get away with a royal assassination."**

**I started to tell him that I'd practice on him first, but then Eddie's sharp voice interrupted my thoughts.**

**"Rose."**

**Instinct born from years of training instantly kicked into place. I looked up and immediately saw what he'd noticed. Emil had just entered the library and was scanning for novices, taking notes. I shot up out of my chair, taking a position not far from Eddie that gave me a view of Christian and most of the library. Damn it. I had to get a grip, or I'd end up proving Ryan right. Between my brawl in the hall and now this Victor thing, I was completely neglecting my guardian duties.**

"Ya think," Lissa noted.

**I might not even need Mason to fail this.**

**Emil hadn't seen me sitting and socializing. He strolled by, glanced at us, and made a few notes before heading off to scout the rest of the library. Relieved at escaping my close call, I tried to gain control of myself. It was hard. That black mood had seized me again, and listening to Lissa and Christian rage over Victor's trial wasn't really helping me relax. I wanted to go over there and weigh in. I wanted to yell and rant and share my own frustration. But that wasn't a luxury I had as a guardian. My first duty was to protect Moroi and not give into my own impulses.**

All of the older guardians nodded in approval of Rose's decision.

**Over and over, I repeated the guardian mantra: They come first.**

**Those words were really starting to annoy me.**

"I bet," Janine said.

Rose nodded.

"Who's reading next?" Viktoria asked.

"I will, Vika," Dimitri said, taking the book from his sister. "**Chapter seven**."


End file.
